BV  210  ,G65  1904 

Gordon,  Samuel  Dickey, 

1859- 

1936. 

Quiet  talks  on  prayer 

/ 


QUIET  TALKS 
ON     PRATER 


BY 

S.  D.  GORDON 

Author  of  "  Quiet  Talks  on  Power  " 


Neta  Tork         Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H,   Revell  Company 

London    and    Edinburgh 


CopyrigM,   »9o4,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


^i^ 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  63  Washington  Street 
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London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:    30    St.    Mary  Street 


CONTENTS 


I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


The  Meaning  and  Mission  of  Prayer 

7 

I .    Prayer  the  Greatest  Outlet  of  Power 

9 

2.    Prayer  the  Deciding  Factor  in  a  Spiri 

Conflict         .... 

.       28 

3.    The  Earth,  the  Battle-Field  in  Prayer 

.       36 

4.    Does  Prayer  Influence  God  ? 

.      49 

Hindrances  to  Prayer 

.      6s 

I.    Why  the  Results  Fail 

,      67 

2.    Why  the  Results  are  Delayed      . 

.       81 

3.    The  Great  Outside  Hindrance    . 

.     104 

How  TO  Pray           .... 

125 

I .    The  "  How  "  of  Relationship     . 

.     127 

2.    The  "How  "of  Method 

.     141 

3.    The  Listening  Side  of  Prayer 

159 

4.    Something  about  God's  Will  in  Con- 

nection with  Prayer 

^77 

5.    May  We  Pray  with  Assurance  for  the 

Conversion  of  Our  Loved  Ones 

190 

Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer    .         .         .         . 

207 

I.    A  Pen  Sketch            .         .         .         . 

209 

2.    Dissolving  Views      .         .         .         . 

211 

3.    Deepening  Shadows 

219 

4.    Under  the  Olive  Trees 

226 

5.    A  Composite  Picture 
5 

231 

I.     THE    MEANING    AND    MIS- 
SION OF  PRAYER 


1.  Prayer  the  Greatest  Outlet  of  Power. 

2.  Prayer  the  Deciding  Factor  in  a  Spirit 

Conflict. 

3.  The  Earth,  the  Battle-Field  in  Prayer. 

4.  Does  Prayer  Influence  God  ? 


Prayer  the  Greatest  Outlet 
of  Power 


Five  Outlets  of  Power. 

A  great  sorrow  has  come  into  the  heart  of 
God.  Let  it  be  told  only  in  hushed  voice — one 
of  His  worlds  is  a  prodigal !  Hush  your  voice 
yet  moxQ— ours  is  that  prodigal  world.  Let  your 
voice  soften  down  still  more — we  have  consented 
to  the  prodigal  part  of  the  story.  But,  in  softest 
tones  yet,  He  has  won  some  of  us  back  with  His 
strong  tender  love.  And  now  let  the  voice  ring 
out  with  great  gladness — we  won  ones  may  be 
the  pathway  back  to  God  for  the  others.  That 
is  His  earnest  desire.  That  should  be  our  dom- 
inant ambition.  For  that  purpose  He  has  en- 
dowed us  with  peculiar  power. 

There  is  one  inlet  of  power  in  the  life— any- 
body's life— any  kind  of  power:  just  one  inlet — 
the  Holy  Spirit.  He  is  power.  He  is  in  every 
one  who  opens  his  door  to  God.  He  eagerly  en- 
ters every  open  door.  He  comes  in  by  our  invi- 
tation and  consent.  His  presence  within  is  the 
vital  thing. 

But  with  many  of  us  while  He  is  in,  He  is  not 
in  control:  in  as  guest;  not  as  host.  That  is  to 
9 


lo  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

say  He  is  hindered  in  His  natural  movements; 
tied  up,  so  that  He  cannot  do  what  He  would. 
And  so  we  are  not  conscious  or  only  partially 
conscious  of  His  presence.  And  others  are  still 
less  so.  But  to  yield  to  His  mastery,  to  cultivate 
His  friendship,  to  give  Him  full  swing — that  will 
result  in  what  is  called  power.  One  inlet  of 
power— the  Holy  Spirit  in  control. 

There  are  five  outlets  of  power:  five  avenues 
through  which  this  One  within  shows  Himself, 
and  reveals  His  power. 

First:  through  the  life,  what  we  are.  Just 
simply  what  we  are.  If  we  be  right  the  power 
of  God  will  be  constantly  flowing  out,  though 
we  be  not  conscious  of  it.  It  throws  the  keenest 
kind  of  emphasis  on  a  man  being  right  in  his 
life.  There  will  be  an  eager  desire  to  serve. 
Yet  we  may  constantly  do  more  in  what  we  are 
than  in  what  we  do.  We  may  serve  better  in 
the  lives  we  live  than  in  the  best  service  we  ever 
give.  The  memory  of  that  should  bring  rest  to 
your  spirit  when  a  bit  tired,  and  may  be  dis- 
heartened because  tired. 

Second  :  through  the  lips,  what  we  say.  It 
may  be  said  stammeringly  and  falteringly.  But 
if  said  your  best  with  the  desire  to  please  the 
Master  it  will  be  God-blest.  I  have  heard  a  man 
talk.  And  he  stuttered  and  blushed  and  got  his 
grammar  badly  tangled,  but  my  heart  burned  as 
I  listened.  And  I  have  heard  a  man  talk  with 
smooth  speech,  and  it  rolled  off  me  as  easily  as 


The  Greatest  Outlet  of  Power       1 1 

it  rolled  out  of  him.  Do  your  best,  and  leave 
the  rest.  If  we  are  in  touch  with  God  His  fire 
burns  whether  the  tongue  stammer  or  has  good 
control  of  its  powers. 

Third  :  through  our  service,  what  we  do.  It 
may  be  done  bunglingly  and  blunderingly.  Your 
best  may  not  be  the  best,  but  if  it  be  your  best  it 
will  bring  a  harvest. 

Fourth  :  through  our  money,  what  we  do  not 
keep,  but  loosen  out  for  God.  Money  comes  the 
nearest  to  omnipotence  of  anything  we  handle. 

And,  fifth  :  through  our  prayer,  what  we  claim 
in  Jesus'  name. 

And  by  all  odds  the  greatest  of  these  is  the 
outlet  through  prayer.  The  power  of  a  life 
touches  just  one  spot,  but  the  touch  is  tremen- 
dous. What  is  there  we  think  to  be  compared 
with  a  pure,  unselfish,  gently  strong  life.  Yet 
its  power  is  limited  to  one  spot  where  it  is  being 
lived.  Power  through  the  lips  depends  wholly 
upon  the  life  back  of  the  lips.  Words  that  come 
brokenly  are  often  made  burning  and  eloquent 
by  the  life  behind  them.  And  words  that  are 
smooth  and  easy,  often  have  all  their  meaning 
sapped  by  the  life  back  of  them.  Power  through 
service  may  be  great,  and  may  be  touching  many 
spots,  yet  it  is  always  less  than  that  of  a  life. 
Power  through  money  depends  wholly  upon  the 
motive  back  of  the  money.  Begrudged  money, 
stained  money,  soils  the  treasury.  That  which 
comes  nearest  to  omnipotence  also  comes  nearest 


12  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

to  impotence.  But  the  power  loosened  out 
through  prayer  is  as  tremendous,  at  the  least,  to 
say  no  rriore  just  now,  is  as  tremendous  as  the 
power  of  a  true  fragrant  life  and,  mark  you,  and, 
may  touch  not  one  spot  but  wherever  in  the 
whole  round  world  you  may  choose  to  turn  it. 

The  greatest  thing  any  one  can  do  for  God  and 
for  man  is  to  pray.  It  is  not  the  only  thing. 
But  it  is  the  chief  thing.  A  correct  balancing  of 
the  possible  powers  one  may  exert  puts  it  first. 
For  if  a  man  is  to  pray  right,  he  must  first  be 
right  in  his  motives  and  life.  And  if  a  man  be 
right,  and  put  the  practice  of  praying  in  its  right 
place,  then  his  serving  and  giving  and  speaking 
will  be  fairly  fragrant  with  the  presence  of  God. 

The  great  people  of  the  earth  to-day  are  the 
people  who  pray.  I  do  not  mean  those  who  talk 
about  prayer;  nor  those  who  say  they  believe  in 
prayer;  nor  yet  those  who  can  explain  about 
prayer;  but  I  mean  these  people  who  take  time 
and  pray.  They  have  not  time.  It  must  be 
taken  from  something  else.  This  something  else 
is  important.  Very  important,  and  pressing,  but 
still  less  important  and  less  pressing  than  prayer. 
There  are  people  that  put  prayer  first,  and  group 
the  other  items  in  life's  schedule  around  and  after 
prayer. 

These  are  the  people  to-day  who  are  doing  the 
most  for  God;  in  winning  souls;  in  solving  prob- 
lems; in  awakening  churches;  in  supplying  both 
men  and  money  for  mission  posts;  in  keeping 


The  Greatest  Outlet  of  Power       13 

fresh  and  strong  these  lives  far  off  in  sacrificial 
service  on  the  foreign  field  where  the  thickest 
fighting  is  going  on;  in  keeping  the  old  earth 
sweet  awhile  longer. 

It  is  wholly  a  secret  service.  We  do  not  know 
who  these  people  are,  though  sometimes  shrewd 
guesses  may  be  made.  I  often  think  that  some- 
times we  pass  some  plain-looking  woman  quietly 
slipping  out  of  church;  gown  been  turned  two  or 
three  times;  bonnet  fixed  over  more  than  once; 
hands  that  have  not  known  much  of  the  soften- 
ing of  gloves;  and  we  hardly  give  her  a  passing 
thought,  and  do  not  know,  nor  guess,  that  per- 
haps she  is  the  one  who  is  doing  far  more  for  her 
church,  and  for  the  world,  and  for  God  than  a 
hundred  who  would  claim  more  attention  and 
thought,  because  she  prays;  truly  prays  as  the 
Spirit  of  God  inspires  and  guides. 

Let  me  put  it  this  way:  God  will  do  as  a  result 
of  the  praying  of  the  humblest  one  here  what 
otherwise  He  would  not  do.  Yes,  I  can  make  it 
stronger  than  that,  and  I  must  make  it  stronger, 
for  the  Book  does.  Listen :  God  will  do  in  answer 
to  the  prayer  of  the  weakest  one  here  what  other- 
wise He  could  not  do.  "  Oh !  "  some  one  thinks, 
"you  are  getting  that  too  strong  now."  Well, 
you  listen  to  Jesus'  own  words  in  that  last  long 
quiet  talk  He  had  with  the  eleven  men  between 
the  upper  room  and  the  olive-grove.  John  pre- 
serves much  of  that  talk  for  us.  Listen:  "Ye 
did  not  choose  Me,  but  I  chose  you,  and  appointed 


14  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

you,  that  ye  should  go  and  bear  fruit,  and  that 
your  fruit  should  abide:  that" — listen,  a  part  of 
the  purpose  why  we  have  been  chosen — ''that 
whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  of  the  Father  in  My  name, 
He  may  give  it  you."  ^  Mark  that  word  "  may  " ; 
not  "shall "  this  time  but  may.  " Shall "  throws 
the  matter  over  on  God — His  purpose.  "May" 
throws  it  over  upon  us — our  cooperation.  That 
is  to  say  our  praying  makes  it  possible  for  God 
to  do  what  otherwise  He  could  not  do. 

And  if  you  think  into  it  a  bit,  this  fits  in  with 
the  true  conception  of  prayer.  In  its  simplest 
analysis  prayer — all  prayer — has,  must  have,  two 
parts.  First,  a  God  to  give.  "Yes,"  you  say, 
"  certainly,  a  God  wealthy,  willing,  all  of  that." 
And,  just  as  certainly,  there  must  be  a  second 
factor,  a  man  to  receive.  Man's  willingness  is 
God's  channel  to  the  earth.  God  never  crowds 
nor  coerces.  Everything  God  does  for  man  and 
through  man  He  does  with  man's  consent,  always. 
With  due  reverence,  but  very  plainly,  let  it  be 
said  that  God  can  do  nothing  for  the  man  with 
shut  hand  and  shut  life.  There  must  be  an  open 
hand  and  heart  and  life  through  which  God  can 
give  what  He  longs  to.  An  open  life,  an  open 
hand,  open  upward,  is  the  pipe  line  of  commu- 
nication between  the  heart  of  God  and  this  poor 
befooled  old  world.  Our  prayer  is  God's  oppor- 
tunity to  get  into  the  world  that  would  shut  Him 
out. 

*  John  15:16. 


The  Greatest  Outlet  of  Power       15 

In  touch  with  a  planet. 

Prayer  opens  a  whole  planet  to  a  man's  activ- 
ities. I  can  as  really  be  touching  hearts  for  God 
in  far  away  India  or  China  through  prayer,  as 
though  I  were  there.  Not  in  as  many  ways  as 
though  there,  but  as  truly.  Understand  me,  I 
think  the  highest  possible  privilege  of  service  is 
in  those  far  off  lands.  There  the  need  is  greatest, 
the  darkness  densest,  and  the  pleading  call  most 
eloquently  pathetic.  And  if  one  may  go  there — 
happy  man  ! — if  one  be  privileged  to  go  to  the 
honoured  place  of  service  he  may  then  use  all  five 
outlets  direct  in  the  spot  where  he  is. 

Yet  this  is  only  one  spot.  But  his  relationship 
is  as  wide  as  his  Master's  and  his  sympathies 
should  be.  A  man  may  be  in  Africa,  but  if  his 
heart  be  in  touch  with  Jesus  it  will  be  burning 
for  a  world.  Prayer  puts  us  into  direct  dynamic 
touch  with  a  world. 

A  man  may  go  aside  to-day,  and  shut  his  door, 
and  as  really  spend  a  half-hour  in  India — I  am 
thinking  of  my  words  as  I  say  them,  it  seems  so 
much  to  say,  and  yet  it  is  true — as  really  spend  a 
half  hour  of  his  life  in  India  for  God  as  though 
he  were  there  in  person.  /5  that  true.?  If  it  be 
true,  surely  you  and  I  must  get  more  half-hours 
for  this  secret  service.  Without  any  doubt  he 
may  turn  his  key  and  be  for  a  bit  of  time  as  po- 
tentially in  China  by  the  power  of  prayer,  as 
though  there  in  actual  bodily  form.  I  say  poten- 
tially present.    Of  course  not  consciously  present. 


i6  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

But  in  the  power  exerted  upon  men  he  may  be 
truly  present  at  the  objective  point  of  his  prayer. 
He  may  give  a  nev^  meaning  to  the  printed  page 
being  read  by  some  native  down  in  Africa.  He 
may  give  a  new  tongue  of  flame  to  the  preacher 
or  teacher.  He  may  make  it  easier  for  men  to 
accept  the  story  of  Jesus,  and  then  to  yield  them- 
selves to  Jesus — yonder  men  swept  and  swayed 
by  evil  spirits,  and  by  prejudices  for  generations 
— make  it  easier  for  them  to  accept  the  story,  and, 
if  need  be,  to  cut  with  loved  ones,  and  step  out 
and  up  into  a  new  life. 

Some  earnest  heart  enters  an  objection  here, 
perhaps.  You  are  thinking  that  if  you  were  there 
you  could  influence  men  by  your  personal  con- 
tact, by  the  living  voice.  So  you  could.  And 
there  must  be  the  personal  touch.  Would  that 
there  were  many  times  more  going  for  that 
blessed  personal  touch.  But  this  is  the  thing  to 
mark  keenly  both  for  those  who  may  go,  and  for 
those  who  must  stay:  no  matter  where  you  are 
you  do  more  through  your  praying  than  through 
your  personality.  If  you  were  in  India  you  could 
addyour  personality  toy  our  prayer.  That  would 
be  a  great  thing  to  do.  But  whether  there  or 
here,  you  must  first  win  the  victory,  every  step, 
every  life,  every  foot  of  the  way,  in  secret,  in 
the  spirit-realm,  and  then  add  the  mighty  touch 
of  your  personality  in  service.  You  can  do  more 
than  pray,  after  you  have  prayed.  But  you  can 
not  do  more  than  pray  until  you  have  prayed. 


The  Greatest  Outlet  of  Power       17 

And  just  there  is  where  we  have  all  seemed  to 
make  a  slip  at  times,  and  many  of  us  are  yet 
making  it — a  bad  slip.  We  think  we  can  do 
more  where  we  are  through  our  service:  then 
prayer  to  give  power  to  service.  No — with  the 
blackest  underscoring  of  emphasis,  let  it  be  said — 
NO.  We  can  do  no  thing  of  real  power  until  we 
have  done  the  prayer  thing. 

Here  is  a  man  by  my  side.  I  can  talk  to  him. 
I  can  bring  my  personality  to  bear  upon  him,  that 
I  may  win  him.  But  before  I  can  influence  his 
will  a  jot  for  God,  I  must  first  have  won  the  vic- 
tory in  the  secret  place.  Intercession  is  winning 
the  victory  over  the  chief,  and  service  is  taking 
the  field  after  the  chief  is  driven  off.  Such  service 
is  limited  by  the  limitation  of  personality  to  one 
place.  This  spirit-telegraphy  called  prayer  puts 
a  man  into  direct  dynamic  touch  with  a  planet. 

There  are  some  of  our  friends  who  think  them- 
selves of  the  practical  sort  who  say,  "the  great 
thing  is  work  :  prayer  is  good,  and  right,  but  the 
great  need  is  to  be  doing  something  practical." 
The  truth  is  that  when  one  understands  about 
prayer,  and  puts  prayer  in  its  right  place  in  his 
life,  he  finds  a  new  motive  power  burning  in  his 
bones  to  be  doing;  and  further  he  finds  that  it 
is  the  doing  that  grows  out  of  praying  that  is 
mightiest  in  touching  human  hearts.  And  he 
finds  further  yet  with  a  great  joy  that  he  may  be 
doing  something  for  an  entire  world.  His  service 
becomes  as  broad  as  his  Master's  thought. 


l8  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

Intercession  is  Service. 

It  helps  greatly  to  remember  that  intercession 
is  service  :  the  chief  service  of  a  life  on  God's 
plan.  It  is  unlike  all  other  forms  of  service,  and 
superior  to  them  in  this  :  that  it  has  fewer  limita- 
tions. In  all  other  service  we  are  constantly 
limited  by  space,  bodily  strength,  equipment, 
material  obstacles,  difficulties  involved  in  the  pe- 
culiar differences  of  personality.  Prayer  knows 
no  such  limitations.  It  ignores  space.  It  may  be 
free  of  expenditure  of  bodily  strength,  wliere 
rightly  practiced,  and  one's  powers  are  under 
proper  control.  It  goes  directly,  by  the  telegraphy 
of  spirit,  into  men's  hearts,  quietly  passes  through 
walls,  and  past  locks  unhindered,  and  comes  into 
most  direct  touch  with  the  inner  heart  and  will  to 
be  affected. 

In  service,  as  ordinarily  understood,  one  is 
limited  to  the  space  where  his  body  is,  the  dis- 
tance his  voice  can  reach,  the  length  of  time 
he  can  keep  going  before  he  must  quit  to  eat, 
or  rest,  or  sleep.  He  is  limited  by  walls,  and 
locks,  by  the  prejudices  of  men's  minds,  and 
by  those  peculiar  differences  of  temperament 
which  must  be  studied  in  laying  siege  to  men's 
hearts. 

The  whole  circle  of  endeavour  in  winning  men 
includes  such  an  infinite  variety.  There  is  speak- 
ing the  truth  to  a  number  of  persons,  and  to  one 
at  a  time  ;  the  doing  of  needed  kindly  acts  of 
helpfulness,  supplying  food,  and  the  like;  there  is 


The  Greatest  Outlet  of  Power       19 

teaching  ;  the  almost  omnipotent  ministry  of 
money  ;  the  constant  contact  with  a  pure  unself- 
ish life  ;  letter  writing  ;  printer's  ink  in  endless 
variety.  All  these  are  in  God's  plan  for  winning 
men.  But  the  intensely  fascinating  fact  to  mark 
is  this  : — that  the  real  victory  in  all  of  this  service 
is  won  in  secret,  beforehand,  by  prayer,  and  these 
other  indispensable  things  are  the  moving  upon 
the  works  of  the  enemy,  and  claiming  the  victory 
already  won.  And  when  these  things  are  put  in 
their  proper  order,  prayer  first,  and  the  other 
things  second  ;  second,  I  say,  not  omitted,  not 
slurred  over  ;  done  with  all  the  earnestness  and 
power  of  brain  and  hand  and  heart  possible  ;  but 
done  after  the  victory  has  been  won  in  secret, 
against  the  real  foe,  and  done  while  the  winner  is 
still  claiming  the  victory  already  assured,— then 
will  come  far  greater  achievements  in  this  outer 
open  service. 

Then  we  go  into  this  service  with  that  fine 
spirit  of  expectancy  that  sweeps  the  field  at  the 
start,  and  steadily  sticks  on  the  stubbornly  con- 
tested spots  until  the  whipped  foe  turns  tail,  and 
goes.  Prayer  is  striking  the  winning  blow  at 
the  concealed  enemy.  Service  is  gathering  up 
the  results  of  that  blow  among  the  men  we  see 
and  touch.  Great  patience  and  tact  and  persist- 
ence are  needed  in  the  service  because  each  man 
must  be  influenced  in  his  own  will.  But  the 
shrewd  strategy  that  wins  put  the  keen  stiff 
secret  fighting  first. 


20  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

The  Spirit  Switchboard. 

Electricity  is  a  strange  element.  It  is  catalogued 
in  the  study  of  physics.  It  is  supposed  to  be 
properly  classed  among  the  forces  of  nature.  Yet 
it  seems  to  have  many  properties  of  the  spirit 
world.  Those  who  know  most  of  it  say  they 
know  least  of  what  it  is.  Some  of  the  laws  of  its 
being  have  been  learned,  and  so  its  marvellous 
power  harnessed  for  man's  use,  but  in  much 
ignorance  of  what  it  is.  It  seems  almost  to  be- 
long somewhere  in  between  the  physical  and 
spirit  realms.  It  furnishes  many  similes  of 
graphic  helpfulness  in  understanding  more  nearly 
much  truth  of  the  Spirit  life. 

In  the  power-house  where  the  electricity  is  be- 
ing wooed  into  man's  harnessing,  or  generated, 
as  the  experts  say,  is  found  a  switchboard,  or 
switch-room  with  a  number  of  boards.  Here  in 
a  large  city  plant  a  man  may  go  and  turn  a  switch, 
that  is,  move  a  little  handle,  a  very  short  distance. 
It  is  a  very  simple  act,  easily  performed,  involving 
almost  no  strength.  But  that  act  has  loosened  the 
power  in  the  house  back  of  the  switchboard  out 
along  the  wires,  and  perhaps  lighted  a  whole  sec- 
tion of  the  city.  He  goes  in  again  at  another 
hour,  and  turns  this  set  of  switches,  and  this, 
and  sets  in  motion  maybe  scores  of  cars,  carrying 
swiftly,  hundreds  of  passengers.  Again  he  goes 
in,  and  moves  the  little  handles  and  sets  in  motion 
the  wheels  in  some  factory  employing  hundreds 
of  operatives. 


The  Greatest  Outlet  of  Power       21 

It  is  a  secret  service,  usually  as  far  as  any 
observers  are  concerned.  It  is  a  very  quiet,  mat- 
ter of  fact  service.  But  the  power  influenced  is 
unmeasured  and  immeasurable.  And  no  one, 
seemingly,  thus  far,  can  explain  the  mysterious 
but  tremendous  agent  involved.  Does  the  fluid— 
is  it  a  fluid  ?  or,  what  ? — pass  through  the  wire  ? 
or,  around  the  wire  ?  The  experts  say  they  do 
not  know.  But  the  laws  which  it  obeys  are 
known.  And  as  men  comply  with  them  its 
almost  omnipotence  is  manifested. 

Just  such  a  switch-room  in  the  spirit  realm  is 
one's  prayer-room.  Every  one  who  will  may 
have  such  a  spirit  switching-board  in  his  life. 
There  he  may  go  and  in  compliance  with  the 
laws  of  the  power  used  loosen  out  the  gracious 
persuasive  irresistible  power  of  God  where  he 
wills  too  ;  now  in  Japan  ;  now  in  China  ;  among 
the  hungry  human  hearts  of  India's  plains  and 
mountains;  again  in  Africa  which  is  full  as  near 
to  where  Jesus  sits  as  is  England  or  America;  and 
now  into  the  house  across  the  alley  from  your 
home;  and  down  in  the  slum  district;  and  now 
into  your  preacher's  heart  for  next  Sunday's 
work;  and  now  again  unto  the  hearts  of  those 
you  will  be  meeting  in  the  settlement  house,  or 
the  mission  school. 

Children  are  not  allowed  at  the  electrical 
switchboard,  nor  any  unskilled  hand.  For  misuse 
means  possibility  of  great  damage  to  property  and 
life.    And  the  spirit  switchboard  does  not  yield 


22  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

to  the  unskilled  touch.  Though  sometimes  there 
seems  to  be  much  tampering  by  those  with  crude 
fingers,  and  with  selfish  desire  to  turn  this  cur- 
rent to  personal  advantage  merely. 

It  takes  skill  here.  Yet  such  is  our  winsome 
God's  wondrous  plan  that  skill  may  come  to  any 
one  who  is  willing;  simply  that — who  is  willing; 
and  it  comes  very  simply  too. 

Strange  too,  as  with  the  electrical  counterpart, 
the  thing  is  beyond  full  or  satisfying  explana- 
tion. 

How  does  it  come  to  pass  that  a  man  turns  a 
few  handles,  and  miles  away  great  wheels  begin 
to  revolve,  and  enormous  power  is  manifested  ? 
Will  some  one  kindly  explain  ?  Yet  we  know  it 
is  so,  and  men  govern  their  actions  by  that 
knowledge. 

How  does  it  come  to  pass  that  a  woman  in 
Iowa  prays  for  the  conversion  of  her  skeptical 
husband,  and  he,  down  in  the  thick  of  the  most 
absorbing  congress  Washington  has  known  since 
the  civil  war,  and  in  full  ignorance  of  her  pur- 
pose becomes  conscious  and  repeatedly  conscious 
of  the  presence  and  power  of  the  God  in  whose 
existence  he  does  not  believe  ;  and  months  after- 
wards with  his  keen,  legally  trained  mind,  finds 
the  calendar  to  fit  together  the  beginning  of  her 
praying  with  the  beginning  of  his  unwelcome 
consciousness?  Will  some  one  kindly  explain  ? 
Ah!  who  can,  adequately!  Yet  the  facts,  easy 
ascertainable,  are  there,   and  evidenced  in  the 


The  Greatest  Outlet  of  Power       23 

complete  change  in  the  life  and  calling  of  the 
man. 

How  comes  it  to  pass  that  a  woman  in  Missouri 
praying  for  a  friend  of  keen  intellectual  skeptical- 
ity  in  Glasgow,  who  can  skillfully  measure  and 
parry  argument,  yet  finds  afterwards  that  the 
time  of  her  praying  is  the  time  of  his,  at  first  de- 
cidedly unwelcome,  but  finally  radical  change  of 
convictions!  Yet  groups  of  thoughtful  men  and 
women  know  these  two  instances  to  be  even  so 
though  unable  to  explain  how. 

And  as  the  mysterious  electrical  power  is  being 
used  by  obedience  to  its  laws,  even  so  is  the 
power  of  prayer  being  used  by  many  who  under- 
stand simply  enough  of  its  laws  to  obey,  and  to 
bring  the  stupendous  results. 

The  Broad  Inner  Horiion. 

This  suggests  at  once  that  the  rightly  rounded 
Christian  life  has  two  sides;  the  outside,  and  the 
inner  side.  To  most  of  us  the  outer  side  seems 
the  greater.  The  living,  the  serving,  the  giving, 
the  doing,  the  absorption  in  life's  work,  the  con- 
tact with  men,  with  the  great  majority  the  sheer 
struggle  for  existence — these  take  the  greater 
thought  and  time  of  us  all.  They  seem  to  be  the 
great  business  of  life  even  to  those  of  us  who 
thoroughly  believe  in  the  inner  life. 

But  when  the  real  eyes  open,  the  inner  eyes 
that  see  the  unseen,  the  change  of  perspective  is 
first  ludicrous,  then  terrific,  then  pathetic.    Ludi- 


24  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

crous,  because  of  the  change  of  proportions ;  ter- 
rific, because  of  the  issues  at  stake;  pathetic,  be- 
cause of  strong  men  that  see  not,  and  push 
on  spending  splendid  strength  whittling  sticks. 
The  outer  side  is  narrow  in  its  limits.  It  has  to 
do  with  food  and  clothing,  bricks  and  lumber, 
time  and  the  passing  hour,  the  culture  of  the 
mind,  the  joys  of  social  contact,  the  smoothing 
of  the  way  for  the  suffering.  And  it  needs  not 
to  be  said,  that  these  are  right;  they  belong  in 
the  picture;  they  are  its  physical  background. 

The  inner  side  includes  all  of  these,  and 
stretches  infinitely  beyond.  Its  limits  are  broad; 
broad  as  the  home  of  man;  with  its  enswathing 
atmosphere  added.  It  touches  the  inner  spirit. 
It  moves  in  upon  the  motives,  the  loves,  the 
heart.  It  moves  out  upon  the  myriad  spirit- 
beings  and  forces  that  swarm  ceaselessly  about 
the  earth  staining  and  sliming  men's  souls  and 
lives.  It  moves  up  to  the  arm  of  God  in  cooper- 
ation with  His  great  love-plan  for  a  world. 

Shall  we  follow  for  a  day  one  who  has  gotten 
the  true  perspective?  Here  is  the  outer  side:  a 
humble  home,  a  narrow  circle,  tending  the  baby, 
patching,  sewing,  cooking,  calling;  or,  measuring 
dry  goods,  chopping  a  typewriter,  checking  up  a 
ledger,  feeding  the  swift  machinery,  endless 
stitching,  gripping  a  locomotive  lever,  pushing 
the  plow,  tending  the  stock,  doing  the  chores, 
tiresome  examination  papers;  and  all  the  rest  of 
the  endless,  endless,  doing,  day  by  day,  of  the 


The  Greatest  Outlet  of  Power       25 

commonplace  treadmill  things,  that  must  be  done, 
that  fill  out  the  day  of  the  great  majority  of  hu- 
man lives.  This  one  whom  we  are  following 
unseen  is  doing  quietly,  cheerily  his  daily  round, 
with  a  bit  of  sunshine  in  his  face,  a  light  in  his 
eye,  and  lightness  in  his  step,  and  the  common- 
place place  becomes  uncommon  by  reason  of  the 
presence  of  this  man  with  the  uncommon  spirit. 
He  is  working  for  God.  No,  better,  he  is  work- 
ing with  God.  He  has  an  unseen  Friend  at  his 
side.  That  changes  all.  The  common  drudgery 
ceases  to  be  common,  and  ceases  to  be  drudgery 
because  it  is  done  for  such  an  uncommon  Master. 
That  is  the  outer,  the  narrow  side  of  this  life:  not 
narrow  in  itself  but  in  its  proportion  to  the 
whole. 

Now,  hold  your  breath,  and  look,  for  here  is 
the  inner  side  where  the  larger  work  of  life  is 
being  done.  Here  is  the  quiet  bit  of  time  alone 
with  God,  with  the  Book.  The  door  is  shut,  as 
the  Master  said.  Now  it  is  the  morning  hour 
with  a  bit  of  made  light,  for  the  sun  is  busy  yet 
farther  east.  Now  it  is  the  evening  hour,  with 
the  sun  speeding  towards  western  service,  and 
the  bed  invitingly  near.  There  is  a  looking  up 
into  God's  face;  then  keen  but  reverent  reading, 
and  then  a  simple  intelligent  pleading  with  its 
many  variations  of  this — "  Thy  will  be  done,  in 
the  Victor's  name."  God  Himself  is  here,  in  this 
inner  room.  The  angels  are  here.  This  room 
opens  out  into  and  is  in  direct  touch  with  a  spirit 


26  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

space  as  wide  as  the  earth.  The  horizon  of  this 
room  is  as  broad  as  the  globe.  God's  presence 
with  this  man  makes  it  so. 

To-day  a  half  hour  is  spent  in  China,  for  its 
missionaries,  its  native  Christians,  its  millions,  the 
printed  page,  the  personal  contact,  the  telling  of 
the  story,  the  school,  the  dispensary,  the  hospital. 
And  in  through  the  petitions  runs  this  golden 
thread— "  Victory  in  Jesus'  name:  victory  in 
Jesus' name;  to-day:  to-day:  Thy  will  be  being 
done:  the  other  will  undone:  victory  in  Jesus' 
name."  To-morrow's  bit  of  time  is  largely  spent 
in  India  perhaps.  And  so  this  man  with  the 
narrow  outer  horizon  and  the  broad  inner 
horizon  pushes  his  spirit-way  through  Japan, 
India,  Ceylon,  Persia,  Arabia,  Turkey,  Africa, 
Europe's  papal  lands,  the  South  American  States, 
the  home  land,  its  cities,  frontiers,  slums,  the 
home  town,  the  home  church,  the  man  across  the 
alley;  in  and  out;  out  and  in;  the  tide  of  prayer 
sweeps  quietly,  resistlessly  day  by  day. 

This  is  the  true  Christian  life.  This  man  is 
winning  souls  and  refreshing  lives  in  these  far- 
off  lands  and  in  near-by  places  as  truly  as  though 
he  were  in  each  place.  This  is  the  Master's  plan. 
The  true  follower  of  Jesus  has  as  broad  a  horizon 
as  his  Master.  Jesus  thought  in  continents  and 
seas.  His  follower  prays  in  continents  and  seas. 
This  man  does  not  know  what  is  being  accom- 
plished. Yes  I  He  does  know,  too.  He  knows 
by  the  inference  of  faith. 


The  Greatest  Outlet  of  Power       27 

This  room  where  we  are  meeting  and  talking 
together  might  be  shut  up  so  completely  that  no 
light  comes  in.  A  single  crack  breaking  some- 
where lets  in  a  thin  line  of  light.  But  that  line 
of  light  shining  in  the  darkness  tells  of  a  whole 
sun  of  light  flooding  the  outer  world. 

There  comes  to  this  man  occasional,  yes 
frequent,  evidences  of  changes  being  wrought, 
yet  he  knows  that  these  are  but  the  thin  line  of 
glory  light  which  speaks  of  the  fuller  shining. 
And  with  a  spirit  touched  with  glad  awe  that  he 
can  and  may  help  God,  and  a  heart  full  alike  of 
peace  and  of  yearning,  and  a  life  fragrant  with 
an  unseen  Presence  he  goes  steadily  on  his  way, 
towards  the  dawning  of  the  day. 


Prayer  the  Deciding  Factor  in  a 
Spirit  Conflict 


A  Prehistoric  Conflict 

In  its  simplest  meaning  prayer  has  to  do  with 
a  conflict.  Rightly  understood  it  is  the  deciding 
factor  in  a  spirit  conflict.  The  scene  of  the  con- 
flict is  the  earth.  The  purpose  of  the  conflict  is 
to  decide  the  control  of  the  earth,  and  its  inhabit- 
ants. The  conflict  runs  back  into  the  misty 
ages  of  the  creation  time. 

The  rightful  prince  of  the  earth  is  Jesus,  the 
King's  Son.  There  is  a  pretender  prince  who 
was  once  rightful  prince.  He  was  guilty  of  a 
breach  of  trust.  But  like  King  Saul,  after  his 
rejection  and  David's  anointing  in  his  place,  he 
has  been  and  is  trying  his  best  by  dint  of  force 
to  hold  the  realm  and  oust  the  rightful  ruler. 

The  rightful  Prince  is  seeking  by  utterly 
different  means,  namely  by  persuasion,  to  win 
the  world  back  to  its  first  allegiance.  He  had  a 
fierce  set-to  with  the  pretender,  and  after  a  series 
of  victories  won  the  great  victory  of  the  resurrec- 
tion morning. 

28 


Prayer  the  Deciding  Factor  29 

There  is  one  peculiarity  of  this  conflict  mak- 
ing it  different  from  all  others;  namely,  a  decided 
victory,  and  the  utter  vanquishing  of  the  lead- 
ing general  has  not  stopped  the  war.  And  the 
reason  is  remarkable.  The  Victor  has  a  deep 
love-ambition  to  win,  not  merely  against  the 
enemy,  but  into  men's  hearts,  by  their  free  con- 
sent. And  so,  with  marvellous  love-born  wis- 
dom and  courage,  the  conflict  is  left  open,  for 
men's  sake. 

It  is  a  spirit  conflict.  The  earth  is  swung  in  a 
spirit  atmosphere.  There  are  unnumbered  thou- 
sands of  spirit  beings  good  and  evil,  tramping 
the  earth's  surface,  and  filling  its  atmosphere. 
They  are  splendidly  organized  into  two  compact 
organizations. 

Man  is  a  spirit  being;  an  embodied  spirit  be- 
ing. He  has  a  body  and  a  mind.  He  is  a  spirit. 
His  real  conflicts  are  of  the  spirit  sort;  in  the 
spirit  realm,  with  other  spirit  beings. 

Satan  is  a  spirit  being;  an  unembodied  spirit 
being.  That  is,  unembodied,  save  as  in  much 
cunning,  with  deep,  dark  purpose  he  secures 
embodiment  in  human  beings. 

The  only  sort  of  power  that  influences  in  the 
spirit  realm  is  moral  power.  By  which  is  not 
meant  goodness,  but  that  sort  of  power  either 
bad  or  good  which  is  not  of  a  physical  sort:  that 
higher,  infinitely  higher  and  greater  power  than 
the  mere  physical.  Moral  power  is  the  opposite 
of  violent  or  physical  power. 


30  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

God  does  not  use  force,  violent  physical  force. 
There  are  some  exceptions  to  this  statement. 
There  have  been  righteous  wars,  righteous  on 
one  side.  Turning  to  the  Bible  record,  in  emer- 
gencies, in  extreme  instances  God  has  ordered 
war  measures.  The  nations  that  Israel  was  told 
to  remove  by  the  death  of  war  would  have  inevi- 
tably worn  themselves  out  through  their  physical 
excesses,  and  disobedience  of  the  laws  of  life. 
But  a  wide  view  of  'the  race  revealed  an  emer- 
gency which  demanded  a  speedier  movement. 
And  as  an  exception,  for  the  sake  of  His  plan  for 
the  ultimate  saving  of  a  race,  and  a  world,  God 
gave  an  extermination  order.  The  emergency 
makes  the  exception.  There  is  one  circumstance 
under  which  the  taking  of  human  life  is  right, 
namely,  when  it  can  be  clearly  established  that 
God  the  giver  and  sovereign  of  life  has  so  di- 
rected. But  the  rule  clearly  is  that  God  does  not 
use  force. 

But  note  sharply  in  contrast  with  this  that 
physical  force  is  one  of  Satan's  chief  weapons. 
But  mark  there  two  intensely  interesting  facts: 
first,  he  can  use  it  only  as  he  secures  man  as  his 
ally,  and  uses  it  through  him.  And,  second,  in 
using  it  he  has  with  great  subtlety  sought  to 
shift  the  sphere  of  action.  He  knows  that  in  the 
sphere  of  spirit  force  pure  and  simple  he  is  at  a 
disadvantage:  indeed,  worse  yet,  he  is  defeated. 
For  there  is  a  moral  force  on  the  other  side 
greater  than  any  at  his  command.     The  forces  of 


Prayer  the  Deciding  Factor  31 

purity  and  righteousness  he  simply  cannot  with- 
stand. Jesus  is  the  personification  of  purity  and 
righteousness.  It  was  on  this  moral  ground,  in 
this  spirit  sphere  that  He  won  the  great  victory. 
He  ran  a  terrific  gauntlet  of  tests,  subtle  and 
fierce,  through  those  human  years,  and  came  out 
victor  with  His  purity  and  righteousness  un- 
stained. 

Prayer  is  Projecting  One's  Spirit  Personality. 

Now  prayer  is  a  spirit  force.  It  has  to  do 
wholly  with  spirit  beings  and  forces.  It  is  an  in- 
sistent claiming,  by  a  man,  an  embodied  spirit 
being,  down  on  the  contested  earth,  that  the 
power  of  Jesus'  victory  over  the  great  evil-spirit 
chieftain  shall  extend  to  particular  lives  now  un- 
der his  control.  The  prayer  takes  on  the  char- 
acteristic of  the  man  praying.  He  is  a  spirit  be- 
ing. It  becomes  a  spirit  force.  It  is  a  projecting 
into  the  spirit  realm  of  his  spirit  personality.  Be- 
ing a  spirit  force  it  has  certain  qualities  or  charac- 
teristics of  unembodied  spirit  beings.  An  unem- 
bodied  spirit  being  is  not  limited  by  space  as  we 
embodied  folk  are.  It  can  go  as  swiftly  as 
we  can  think.  If  I  want  to  go  to  London  it  will 
take  at  least  a  week's  time  to  get  my  body 
through  the  intervening  space.  But  I  can  think 
myself  into  London  more  quickly  than  I  can  say 
the  words,and  be  walking  down  the  Strand.  Now 
a  spirit  being  can  go  as  quickly  as  1  can  think. 

Further,  spirit  beings  are  not  limited  by  mate- 


3^  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

rial  obstructions  such  as  the  walls  of  this  building. 
When  I  came  in  here  to-day  I  came  in  by  this 
door.  You  all  came  in  by  these  doors.  We  were 
obliged  to  come  in  either  by  doors  or  windows. 
But  the  spirit  beings  who  are  here  listening  to  us, 
and  deeply  concerned  with  our  discussion  did  not 
bother  with  the  doors.  They  came  in  through 
the  wails,  or  the  roof,  if  they  were  above  us,  or 
through  the  floor  here,  if  they  happened  to  be  be- 
low this  level. 

Prayer  has  these  qualities  of  spirit  beings  of  not 
being  limited  by  space,  or  by  material  obstacles. 
Prayer  is  really  projecting  my  spirit,  that  is,  my 
real  personality  to  the  spot  concerned,  and  doing 
business  there  with  other  spirit  beings.  For  ex- 
ample there  is  a  man  in  a  city  on  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board for  whom  1  pray  daily.  It  makes  my  pray- 
ing for  him  very  tangible  and  definite  to  recall 
that  every  time  I  pray  my  prayer  is  a  spirit  force 
instantly  traversing  the  space  in  between  him  and 
me,  and  going  without  hindrance  through  the 
walls  of  the  house  where  he  is,  and  influencing 
the  spirit  beings  surrounding  him,  and  so  influ- 
encing his  own  will. 

When  it  became  clear  to  me  some  few  years 
ago  that  my  Master  would  not  have  me  go  yet  to 
those  parts  of  the  earth  where  the  need  is  great- 
est, a  deep  tinge  of  disappointment  came  over 
me.  Then  as  I  realized  the  wisdom  of  His  sov- 
ereignty in  service,  it  came  to  me  anew  that  I  could 
exert  a  positive  influence  in  those  lands  for  Him 


Prayer  the  Deciding  Factor  33 

by  prayer.  As  many  others  have  done,  I  marked 
out  a  daily  schedule  of  prayer.  There  are  certain 
ones  for  whom  I  pray  by  name,  at  certain  inter- 
vals. And  it  gives  great  simplicity  to  my  faith, 
and  great  gladness  to  my  heart  to  remember  that 
every  time  such  prayer  is  breathed  out,  my  spirit 
personality  is  being  projected  yonder,  and  in  ef- 
fect I  am  standing  in  Shanghai,  and  Calcutta  and 
Tokyo  in  turn  and  pleading  the  power  of  Jesus' 
victory  over  the  evil  one  there,  and  on  behalf  of 
those  faithful  ones  standing  there  for  God. 

It  is  a  fiercely  contested  conflict.  Satan  is  a 
trained  strategist,  and  an  obstinate  fighter.  He 
refuses  to  acknowledge  defeat  until  he  must.  It 
is  the  fight  of  his  life.  Strange  as  it  must  seem, 
and  perhaps  absurd,  he  apparently  hopes  to  suc- 
ceed. If  we  knew  all,  it  might  seem  less  strange 
and  absurd,  because  of  the  factors  on  his  side. 
There  is  surely  much  down  in  the  world  of  the 
sort  which  we  can  fully  appreciate  to  give  colour 
to  his  expectations.  Prayer  is  insisting  upon 
Jesus'  victory,  and  the  retreat  of  the  enemy  on 
each  particular  spot,  and  heart  and  problem  con- 
cerned. 

The  enemy  yields  only  what  he  must.  He 
yields  only  what  is  taken.  Therefore  the  ground 
must  be  taken  step  by  step.  Prayer  must  be  def- 
inite. He  yields  only  when  he  must.  Therefore 
the  prayer  must  be  persistent.  He  continually  re- 
news his  attacks,  therefore  the  ground  taken 
must  be  held  against  him  in  the  Victor's  name. 


34  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

This  helps  to  understand  why  prayer  must  be 
persisted  in  after  we  have  full  assurance  of  the 
result,  and  even  after  some  immediate  results 
have  come,  or,  after  the  general  results  have  com- 
menced coming. 

Giving  God  a  Fresh  Footing. 

The  Victor's  best  ally  in  this  conflict  is  the  man, 
who  while  he  remains  down  on  the  battle-field, 
puts  his  life  in  full  touch  with  his  Saviour-Vic- 
tor, and  then  incessantly,  insistently,  believingly 
claims  victory  in  Jesus'  name.  He  is  the  one  foe 
among  men  whom  Satan  cannot  withstand.  He 
is  projecting  an  irresistible  spirit  force  into  the 
spirit  realm.  Satan  is  obliged  to  yield.  We  are 
so  accustomed  through  history's  long  record  to 
seeing  victories  won  through  force,  physical  force, 
alone,  that  it  is  difficult  for  us  to  realize  that  moral 
force  defeats  as  the  other  never  can.  Witness 
the  demons  in  the  gospels,  and  in  modern  days 
in  China,'  clearly  against  their  own  set  purpose, 
notwithstanding  intensest  struggle  on  their  part 
obliged  to  admit  defeat,  and  even  to  ask  favours 
of  their  Conqueror.  The  records  of  personal 
Christian  service  give  fascinating  instances  of 
fierce  opposition  utterly  subdued  and  individuals 
transformed  through  such  influence. 

Had  we  eyes  to  sjee  spirit  beings  and  spirit  con- 
flicts we  would  constantly  see  the  enemy's  defeat 
in  numberless  instances  through  the  persistent 
^ "  Demon  Possession,"  by  J.  L,  Nevius. 


Prayer  the  Deciding  Factor  35; 

praying  of  some  one  allied  to  Jesus  in  the  spirit  of 
his  life.  Every  time  such  a  man  prays  it  is  a 
waving  of  the  red-dyed  flag  of  Jesus  Christ  above 
Satan's  head  in  the  spirit  world.  Every  such  man 
who  freely  gives  himself  over  to  God,  and  gives 
himself  up  to  prayer  is  giving  God  a  new  spot  in 
the  contested  territory  on  which  to  erect  His  ban- 
ner of  victory. 

The  Japanese  struggled  for  weeks  to  get  a  foot- 
ing on  the  Port  Arthur  peninsula,  even  after  the 
naval  victories  had  practically  rendered  Russia 
helpless  on  the  seas.  It  was  an  unusual  spectacle 
to  witness  such  difficulty  in  getting  a  landing 
after  such  victories.  But  with  the  bulldog  te- 
nacity that  has  marked  her  fighting  Japan  fought 
for  a  footing.  Nothing  could  be  done  till  a 
footing  was  gotten. 

Prayer  is  man  giving  God  a  footing  on  the  con- 
tested territory  of  this  earth.  The  man  in  full 
touch  of  purpose  with  God  praying,  insistently 
praying — that  man  is  God's  footing  on  the  ene- 
my's soil.  The  man  wholly  given  over  to  God 
gives  Him  a  new  sub-headquarters  on  the  battle- 
field from  which  to  work  out.  And  the  Holy 
Spirit  within  that  man,  on  the  new  spot,  will  in- 
sist on  the  enemy's  retreat  in  Jesus  the  Victor's 
name.  That  is  prayer.  Shall  we  not,  every  one 
of  us,  increase  God's  footing  down  upon  His 
prodigal  earth! 


The  Earth,  the  Battle-Field  in 
Prayer 


Prayer  a  War  Measure. 

This  world  is  God's  prodigal  son.  The  heart  of 
God's  bleeds  over  His  prodigal.  It  has  been  gone 
so  long,  and  the  home  circle  is  broken.  He  has 
spent  all  the  wealth  of  His  thought  on  a  plan  for 
winning  the  prodigal  back  home.  Angels  and 
men  have  marvelled  over  that  plan,  its  sweep,  its 
detail,  its  strength  and  wisdom,  its  tenderness. 
He  needs  man  for  His  plan.  He  will  use  man. 
That  is  true.  He  will  honour  man  in  service. 
That  is  true.  But  these  only  touch  the  edge  of 
the  truth.  The  pathway  from  God  to  a  human 
heart  is  through  a  human  heart.  When  He  came 
to  the  great  strategic  move  in  His  plan.  He  Him- 
self came  down  as  a  man  and  made  that  move. 
He  needs  man  for  His  plan. 

The  greatest  agency  put  into  man's  hands  is 
prayer.  To  understand  that  at  all  fully  one  needs 
to  define  prayer.  And  to  define  prayer  adequately 
one  must  use  the  language  of  war.  Peace  lan- 
guage is  not  equal  to  the  situation.  The  earth  is 
36 


The  Earth,  the  Battle-Field  37 

in  a  state  of  war.  It  is  being  hotly  besieged  and 
so  one  must  use  war  talk  to  grasp  the  facts  with 
which  prayer  is  concerned.  Prayer  from  God's 
side  is  communication  between  Himself  and  His 
allies  in  the  enemy's  country.  Prayer  is  not  per- 
suading God.  It  does  not  influence  God's  pur- 
pose. It  is  not  winning  Him  over  to  our  side; 
never  that.  He  is  far  more  eager  for  what  we 
are  rightly  eager  for  than  we  ever  are.  What 
there  is  of  wrong  and  sin  and  suffering  that  pains 
you,  pains  Him  far  more.  He  knows  more  about 
it.  He  is  more  keenly  sensitive  to  it  than  the 
most  sensitive  one  of  us.  Whatever  of  heart 
yearning  there  may  be  that  moves  you  to 
prayer  is  from  Him.  God  takes  the  initiative  in  all 
prayer.  It  starts  with  Him.  True  prayer  moves 
in  a  circle.  It  begins  in  the  heart  of  God,  sweeps 
down  into  a  human  heart  upon  the  earth,  so  in- 
tersecting the  circle  of  the  earth,  which  is  the 
battle-field  of  prayer,  and  then  it  goes  back  again 
to  its  starting  point,  having  accomplished  its  pur- 
pose on  the  downward  swing. 

Three  Forms  of  Prayer. 

Prayer  is  the  word  commonly  used  for  all  in- 
tercourse with  God.  But  it  should  be  kept  in 
mind  that  that  word  covers  and  includes  three 
formsof  intercourse.  All  prayergrows upthrough, 
and  ever  continues  in  three  stages. 

The  first  form  of  prayer  is  communion.  That 
is  simply  being  on  good  terms  with  God.    It 


38  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

involves  the  blood  of  the  cross  as  the  basis  of 
our  getting  and  being  on  good  terms.  It  involves 
my  coming  to  God  through  Jesus.  Communion 
is  fellowship  with  God.  Not  request  for  some 
particular  thing;  not  asking,  but  simply  enjoying 
Himself,  loving  Him,  thinking  about  Him,  how 
beautiful,  and  intelligent,  and  strong  and  loving 
and  lovable  He  is;  talking  to  Him  without  words. 
That  is  the  truest  worship,  thinking  how  worthy 
He  is  of  all  the  best  we  can  possibly  bring  to  Him, 
and  infinitely  more.  It  has  to  do  wholly  with 
God  and  a  man  being  on  good  terms  with  each 
other.  Of  necessity  it  includes  confession  on  my 
part  and  forgiveness  upon  God's  part,  for  only  so 
can  we  come  into  the  relation  of  fellowship. 
Adoration,  worship  belong  to  this  first  phase  of 
prayer.  Communion  is  the  basis  of  all  prayer. 
It  is  the  essential  breath  of  the  true  Christian  life. 
It  concerns  just  two,  God  and  myself,  yourself. 
Its  influence  is  directly  subjective.  //  affects  me. 
The  second  form  of  prayer  is  petition.  And  I 
am  using  that  word  now  in  the  narrower  mean- 
ing of  asking  something  for  one's  self.  Petition 
is  definite  request  of  God  for  something  I  need. 
A  man's  whole  life  is  utterly  dependent  upon  the 
giving  hand  of  God.  Everything  we  need  comes 
from  Him.  Our  friendships,  ability  to  make 
money,  health,  strength  in  temptation,  and  in 
sorrow,  guidance  in  difficult  circumstances,  and 
in  all  of  life's  movements;  help  of  all  sorts,  finan- 
cial, bodily,  mental,  spiritual — all  come  from  God, 


The  Earth,  the  Battle-Field  39 

and  necessitate  a  constant  touch  with  Him. 
There  needs  to  be  a  constant  stream  of  petition 
going  up,  many  times  wordless  prayer.  And 
there  will  be  a  constant  return  stream  of  answer 
and  supply  coming  down.  The  door  between 
God  and  one's  own  self  must  be  kept  ever  open. 
The  knob  to  be  turned  is  on  our  side.  He  opened 
His  side  long  ago,  and  propped  it  open,  and  threw 
the  knob  away.  The  whole  life  hinges  upon 
this  continual  intercourse  with  our  wondrous 
God.  This  is  the  second  stage  or  form  of  prayer. 
It  concerns  just  two:  God  and  the  man  dealing 
with  God.  It  is  subjective  in  its  influence:  its 
reach  is  within. 

The  third  form  of  prayer  is  intercession.  True 
prayer  never  stops  with  petition  for  one's  self. 
It  reaches  out  for  others.  The  very  word  inter- 
cession implies  a  reaching  out  for  some  one  else. 
It  is  standing  as  a  go-between,  a  mutual  friend, 
between  God  and  some  one  who  is  either  out  of 
touch  with  Him,  or  is  needing  special  help.  In- 
tercession is  the  climax  of  prayer.  It  is  the  out- 
ward drive  of  prayer.  It  is  the  effective  end  of 
prayer  outward.  Communion  and  petition  are 
upward  and  downward.  Intercession  rests  upon 
these  two  as  its  foundation.  Communion  and 
petition  store  the  life  with  the  power  of  God;  in- 
tercession lets  it  out  on  behalf  of  others.  The 
first  two  are  necessarily  for  self;  this  third  is  for 
others.  They  ally  a  man  fully  with  God :  it  makes 
use  of  that  alliance  for  others.    Intercession  is 


40  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

the  full-bloomed  plant  whose  roots  and  strength 
lie  back  and  down  in  the  other  two  forms.  //  is 
the  form  of  prayer  that  helps  God  in  His  great 
love-plan  for  winning  a  planet  back  to  its  true 
sphere.  It  will  help  through  these  talks  to  keep 
this  simple  analysis  of  prayer  in  mind.  For 
much  that  will  be  said  will  deal  chiefly  with  this 
third  form,  intercession,  the  outward  movement 
of  prayer. 

The  Climax  of  Prayer, 

To  God  man  is  first  an  objective  point,  and 
then,  without  ceasing  to  be  that,  he  further  be- 
comes a  distributing  centre.  God  ever  thinks  of 
a  man  doubly:  first  for  his  own  self,  and  then 
for  his  possible  use  in  reaching  others.  Com- 
munion and  petition  fix  and  continue  one's  rela- 
tion to  God,  and  so  prepare  for  the  great  out- 
reaching  form  of  prayer— intercession.  Prayer 
must  begin  in  the  first  two  but  reaches  its  climax 
in  the  third.  Communion  and  petition  are  of 
necessity  self-wide.  Intercession  is  world-wide 
in  its  reach.  And  all  true  rounded  prayer 
will  ever  have  all  three  elements  in  it.  There 
must  be  the  touch  with  God.  One's  constant 
needs  make  constant  petition.  But  the  heart  of 
the  true  follower  has  caught  the  warm  contagion 
of  the  heart  of  God  and  reaches  out  hungrily  for 
the  world.     Intercession  is  the  climax  of  prayer. 

Much  is  said  of  the  subjective  and  objective 
value  of  prayer;  its  influence  upon  one's  self,  an^ 


The  Earth,  the  Battle-FIeld         41 

its  possible  influence  upon  persons  and  events 
quite  outside  of  one's  self.  Of  necessity  the  first 
two  sorts  of  prayer  here  named  are  subjective; 
they  have  to  do  wholly  with  one's  self.  Of  equal 
necessity  intercessory  prayer  is  objective;  it  has 
to  do  wholly  with  others.  There  is  even  here  a 
reflex  influence;  in  the  first  two  directly  subject- 
ive; here  incidentally  reflex.  Contact  with  God 
while  dealing  with  Him  for  another  of  necessity 
influences  me.  But  that  is  the  mere  fringe  of  the 
garment.  The  main  driving  purpose  is  outward. 
Just  now  in  certain  circles  it  seems  quite  the 
thing  to  lay  great  stress  upon  the  subjective  value 
of  prayer  and  to  whittle  down  small,  or,  deny  en- 
tirely its  value  in  influencing  others.  Some  who 
have  the  popular  ear  are  quite  free  with  tongue 
and  pen  in  this  direction.  From  both  without 
and  within  distinctly  Christian  circles  their  voices 
come.  One  wonders  if  these  friends  lay  the 
greater  emphasis  on  the  subjective  value  of 
prayer  so  as  to  get  a  good  deep  breath  for  their 
hard  drive  at  the  other.  Yet  the  greater  proba- 
bility is  that  they  honestly  believe  as  they  say, 
but  have  failed  to  grasp  the  full  perspective  of 
the  picture.  In  listening  to  such  statements  one 
remembers  with  vivid  distinctness  that  the 
scriptural  standpoint  always  is  this:  that  things 
quite  outside  of  one's  self,  that  in  the  natural  or- 
der of  prevailing  circumstances  would  not  occur, 
are  made  to  occur  through  prayer.  Jesus  con- 
stantly so  assumed.    The  first-flush,  common- 


42  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

sense  view  of  successful  prayer  is  that  some 
actual  result  is  secured  through  its  agency. 

It  is  an  utter  begging  of  the  question  to  advance 
such  a  theory  as  a  sufficient  explanation  of 
prayer.  For  prayer  in  its  simplest  conception 
supposes  something  changed  that  is  not  otherwise 
reachable.  Both  from  the  scriptural,  and  from  a 
rugged  philosophical  standpoint  the  objective  is 
the  real  driving  point  of  all  full  prayer.  The 
subjective  is  in  order  to  the  objective,  as  the  final 
outward  climactic  reach  of  God's  great  love-plan 
for  a  world. 

Six  Facts  Underlying  Prayer. 

It  will  help  greatly  to  step  back  and  up  a  bit 
for  a  fresh  look  at  certain  facts  that  underlie  prayer. 
Everything  depends  on  a  right  point  of  view. 
There  may  be  many  view-points,  from  which  to 
study  any  subject;  but  of  necessity  any  one  view- 
point must  take  in  all  the  essential  facts  con- 
cerned. If  not,  the  impression  formed  will  be 
wrong,  and  a  man  will  be  misled  in  his  actions. 
In  these  talks  I  make  no  attempt  to  prove  the 
Bible's  statements,  nor  to  suggest  a  common  law 
for  their  interpretation.  That  would  be  a  matter 
for  quite  a  separate  series  of  talks.  It  clears  the 
ground  to  assume  certain  things.  I  am  assuming 
the  accuracy  of  these  scriptural  statements.  And 
I  am  glad  to  say  I  have  no  difficulty  in  doing  so. 

Now  there  are  certain  facts  constantly  stated  and 
assumed    in  this  old   Book.     They  are  clearly 


The  Earth,  the  Battle-Field  43 

stated  in  its  history,  they  are  woven  into  its  songs, 
and  they  underlie  all  these  prophetic  writings, 
from  Genesis  clear  to  the  end  of  John's  Patmos 
visions.  Possibly  they  have  been  so  familiar  and 
taken  for  granted  so  long  as  to  have  grown  un- 
familiar. The  very  old  may  need  stating  as 
though  very  new.     Here  is  a  chain  of  six  facts: 

First: — The  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fullness 
thereof.'  His  by  creation  and  by  sovereign  rule. 
The  Lord  sat  as  King  at  the  flood.'' 

Second: — God  gave  the  dominion  of  the  earth 
to  man.  The  kingship  of  its  life,  the  control  and 
mastery  of  its  forces.^ 

Third: — Man,  who  held  the  dominion  of  the 
earth  in  trust  from  God,  transferred  his  dominion 
to  somebody  else,  by  an  act  which  was  a  double 
act.  He  was  deceived  into  doing  that  act.  It 
was  an  act  of  disobedience  and  of  obedience.  Dis- 
obedience to  God,  and  obedience  to  another  one, 
a  prince  who  was  seeking  to  get  the  dominion  of 
the  earth  into  his  own  hands.  That  act  of  the 
first  man  did  this.  The  disobedience  broke  with 
God,  and  transferred  the  allegiance  from  God. 
The  obedience  to  the  other  one  transferred  the 
allegiance,  and  through  that,  the  dominion  to  this 
other  one. 

The  fourth  fact  is  this: — The  dominion  or  king- 


*  Psalm  24  :  I.  2  Psalm  29 :  10. 

3  Genesis  i  :  26,  28.  Psalms  8 :  6.  See  quotations  of  this, 
referring  to  the  Man  who  will  restore  original  conditions,  in 
I  Cor.  15  ;  27.  Ephesians  1 :  22.  Hebrews  2  :  8.  Psalms  115  :  16. 


44  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

ship  of  this  earth  so  far  as  given  to  man,  is  now 
not  God's,  for  He  gave  it  to  man.  And  it  is  not 
man's,  for  he  has  transferred  it  to  another.  It  is 
in  the  control  of  that  magnificent  prince  whose 
changed  character  supplies  his  name— Satan,  the 
hater,  the  enemy.  Jesus  repeatedly  speaks  of 
"the  prince" — that  is  the  ruling  one — "of  this 
world."  *  John  speaks  in  his  vision-book  of  a 
time  coming  when  "  the  kingdom  (not  kingdoms, 
as  in  the  old  version)  of  the  world  is  become  the 
kingdom  of  our  Lord,  and  of  His  Christ.""  By 
clear  inference  previous  to  that  time  it  is  some- 
body's else  kingdom  than  His.  The  kingship  or 
rulership  of  the  earth  which  was  given  to  man  is 
now  Satan's. 

The  fifth  fact:— God  was  eager  to  swing  the 
world  back  to  its  original  sway:  for  His  own 
sake,  for  man's  sake,  for  the  earth's  sake.  You 
see,  we  do  not  know  God's  world  as  it  came 
from  His  hand.  It  is  a  rarely  beautiful  world  even 
yet— the  stars  above,  the  plant  life,  the  waters, 
the  exquisite  colouring  and  blending,  the  combina- 
tions of  all  these — an  exquisitely  beautiful  world 
even  yet.  But  it  is  not  the  world  it  was,  nor  that 
some  coming  day  it  will  be.  It  has  been  sadly 
scarred  and  changed  under  its  present  ruler. 
Probably  Eve  would  not  recognize  in  the  present 
world  her  early  home-earth  as  it  came  fresh  from 
the  hand  of  its  maker. 

*John  12:  31;  14:  30;  16:  II. 
•Revelation  11 :  15. 


The  Earth,  the  Battle-Field         45 

God  was  eager  to  swing  the  old  world  back  to 
its  original  control.  But  to  do  so  He  must  get  a 
man,  one  of  the  original  trustee  class  through 
whom  He  might  swing  it  back  to  its  first  alle- 
giance. It  was  given  to  man.  It  was  swung 
away  by  man.  It  must  be  swung  back  by  man. 
And  so  a  Man  came,  and  while  Jesus  was  per- 
fectly and  utterly  human,  we  spell  that  word  Man 
with  a  capital  M  because  He  was  a  man  quite 
distinct  from  all  men.  Because  He  was  more 
truly  human  than  all  other  men  He  is  quite  apart 
from  other  men.  This  Man  was  to  head  a  move- 
ment for  swinging  the  world  back  to  its  first  al- 
legiance. 

The  sixth  fact  is  this: — These  two,  God's  Man, 
and  the  pretender-prince,  had  a  combat:  the  most 
terrific  combat  ever  waged  or  witnessed.  From 
the  cruel,  malicious  cradle  attack  until  Calvary's 
morning  and  two  days  longer  it  ran.  Through 
those  thirty-three  years  it  continued  with  a  ter- 
rificness  and  intensity  unknown  before  or  since. 
The  master-prince  of  subtlety  and  force  did  his 
best  and  his  worst,  through  those  Nazareth  years, 
then  into  the  wilderness, — and  Gethsemane — and 
Calvary.  And  that  day  at  three  o'clock  and  for  a 
bit  longer  the  evil  one  thought  he  had  won.  And 
there  was  great  glee  up  in  the  headquarters  of  the 
prince  of  this  world.  They  thought  the  victory 
was  theirs  when  God's  Man  lay  in  the  grave 
under  the  bars  of  death,  within  the  immediate 
control  of  the  lord  of  death.    But  the  third  morn- 


46  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

ing  came  and  the  bars  of  death  were  snapped 
like  cotton  thread.  Jesus  rose  a  Victor.  For  it 
was  not  possible  that  such  as  He  could  be  held  by 
death's  lord.  And  then  Satan  knew  that  he  was 
defeated.  Jesus,  God's  Man,  the  King's  rightful 
prince,  had  gotten  the  victory. 

But,  please  mark  very  carefully  four  sub-facts 
on  Satan's  side.  First,  he  refuses  to  acknowledge 
his  defeat.  Second,  he  refuses  to  surrender  his 
dominion  until  he  must.  He  yields  only  what  he 
must  and  when  he  must.  Third,  he  is  supported 
in  his  ambitions  by  man.  He  has  man's  consent 
to  his  control.  The  majority  of  men  on  the  earth 
to-day,  and  in  every  day,  have  assented  to  his 
control.  He  has  control  only  through  man's  con- 
sent. (Satan  cannoX  get  into  a  man's  heart  with- 
out his  consent,  and  God  will  not.)  And,  fourth, 
he  hopes  yet  to  make  his  possession  of  the  earth 
permanent. 

The  Victor's  Great  Plan. 


Now,  hold  your  breath  and  note,  on  the  side  of 
the  Victor-prince,  this  unparalleled  and  unimi- 
tated  action:  He  has  left  the  conflict  open,  and 
the  defeated  chief  on  the  field  that  He  may  win  not 
simply  against  the  chief,  but  through  that  victory 
may  win  the  whole  prodigal  race  back  to  His 
Father's  home  circle  again.  But  the  great  pitched 
battle  is  yet  to  come.  I  would  better  say  a 
pitched  battle,  for  the  greatest  one  is  past.  Jesus 
rides  into  the  future  fight  a  Victor.     Satan  will 


The  Earth,  the  Battle-Field         47 

fight  his  last  fight  under  the  shadow  and  sting  of 
a  defeat.  Satan  is  apparently  trying  hard  to  get 
a  Jesus.  That  is  to  say  Jesus  was  God's  Man 
sent  down  to  swing  the  world  back.  Satan  is 
trying  his  best  to  get  a  man — one  of  the  original 
trustee  class,  to  whom  the  dominion  of  the  earth 
was  intrusted — a  man  who  will  stand  for  him 
even  as  Jesus  stood  for  God.  Indeed  a  man  who 
will  personify  himself  even  as  Jesus  was  the  per- 
sonification of  God,  the  express  image  of  His 
person.  When  he  shall  succeed  in  that  the  last 
desperate  crisis  will  come. 

}<low  prayer  is  this :  A  man,  one  of  the  original 
trustee  class,  who  received  the  earth  in  trust  from 
God,  and  who  gave  its  control  over  to  Satan;  a 
man,  on  the  earth,  the  poor  old  Satan-stolen,  sin- 
slimed,  sin-cursed,  contested  earth ;  a  man,  on  the 
earth,  with  his  Mfe  in  full  touch  with  the  Victor, 
and  sheer  out  of  touch  with  the  pretender-prince, 
insistently  claiming  that  Satan  shall  yield  before 
Jesus'  victory,  step  by  step,  life  after  life.  Jesus  is 
the  victor.  Satan  knows  it,  and  fears  Him.  He 
must  yield  before  His  advance,  and  he  must  yield 
before  this  man  who  stands  for  Jesus  down  on 
the  earth.  And  he  will  yield.  Reluctantly, 
angrily,  as  slowly  as  may  be,  stubbornly  contest- 
ing every  inch  of  ground,  his  clutches  will  loosen 
and  he  will  go  before  this  Jesus-man. 

Jesus  said  **the  prince  of  the  world  cometh  : 
and  he  hath  nothing  in  Me.'"    When  you  and  I 

» John  14 :  30. 


48  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

say,  as  we  may  say,  very  humbly  depending  on  His 
grace,  very  determinedly  in  the  resolution  of  our 
own  imperial  will,  "though  the  prince  of  this 
world  come  he  shall  have  nothing  in  me,  no 
coaling  station  however  small  on  the  shores  of 
my  life,"  then  we  shall  be  in  position  where 
Satan  must  yield  as  we  claim — victory  in  the 
Victor's  Name. 


Does  Prayer  Influence  God  ? 


How  God  Gives. 

Some  one  may  object  to  all  this  that  the  state- 
ments of  God's  word  do  not  agree  with  this 
point  of  view. 

At  random  memory  brings  up  a  few  very  fa- 
miliar passages,  frequently  quoted.  "Call  unto 
Me,  and  I  will  answer  thee,  and  will  shew  thee 
great  things,  and  difficult,  that  thou  knowest 
not."*  **And  call  upon  Me  in  the  day  of  trouble; 
I  will  deliver  thee  and  thou  shalt  glorify  Me."* 
''Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you;  seek,  and  ye 
shall  find;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto 
you."'  Here  it  seems,  as  we  have  for  genera- 
tions been  accustomed  to  think,  that  our  asking 
is  the  thing  that  influences  God  to  do.  And 
further,  that  many  times  persistent,  continued 
asking  is  necessary  to  induce  God  to  do.  And 
the  usual  explan?<tion  for  this  need  of  persistence 
is  that  God  is  testing  our  faith,  and  seeking  to 
make  certain  changes  in  us,  before  granting  our 
requests.    This    explanation    is  without    doubt 

» Jeremiah  33 : 3.  *  Psalm  50 :  15. 

*  Matthew  7:7. 

49 


5©  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

quite  true,  in  part  Yet  the  thing  to  mark  is  that 
it  explains  only  in  part.  And  when  the  whole 
circle  of  truth  is  brought  into  view,  this  explana- 
tion is  found  to  cover  only  a  small  part  of  the 
whole. 

We  seem  to  learn  best  about  God  by  analogies. 
The  analogy  never  brings  all  there  is  to  be  learned. 
Yet  it  seems  to  be  the  nearest  we  can  get.  From 
what  we  know  of  ourselves  we  come  to  know 
Him. 

Will  you  notice  how  men  give  ?  Among  those 
who  give  to  benevolent  enterprises  there  are  three 
sorts  of  givers,  with  variations  in  each. 

There  is  the  man  who  gives  because  he  is  in- 
fluenced by  others.  If  the  right  man  or  com- 
mittee of  men  call,  and  deftly  present  their  pleas, 
playing  skillfully  upon  what  may  appeal  to  him; 
his  position;  his  egotism;  the  possible  advantage 
to  accrue;  what  men  whom  he  wants  to  be  classed 
with  are  doing,  and  so  on  through  the  wide  range 
that  such  men  are  familiar  with;  if  they  persist, 
by  and  by  he  gives.  At  first  he  seems  reluctant, 
but  finally  gives  with  more  or  less  grace.  That 
is  one  sort  of  giver. 

There  is  a  second  sort :  the  man  of  truly  benev- 
olent heart  who  is  desirous  of  giving  that  he  may 
be  of  help  to  other  men.  He  listens  attentively 
when  pleas  come  to  him,  and  waits  only  long 
enough  to  satisfy  himself  of  the  worth  of  the 
cause,  and  the  proper  sort  of  amount  to  give, 
and  then  gives. 


Does  Prayer  Influence  God"?        51 

There  is  a  third  sort,  the  rarest  sort.  This 
second  man  a  stage  farther  on,  who  takes  the 
initiative.  He  looks  about  him,  makes  inquiries, 
and  thinks  over  the  great  need  in  every  direction 
of  his  fellow  men.  He  decides  where  his  money 
may  best  be  used  to  help;  and  then  himself  offers 
to  give.  But  his  gift  may  be  abused  by  some 
who  would  get  his  money  if  they  could,  and  use 
it  injudiciously,  or  otherwise  than  he  intends.  So 
he  makes  certain  conditions  which  must  be  met, 
the  purpose  of  which  is  to  establish  sympathetic 
relations  in  some  particular  with  those  whom  he 
would  help.  An  Englishman's  heart  is  strongly 
moved  to  get  the  story  of  Jesus  to  the  inland  mil- 
lions of  Chinese.  He  requests  the  China-Inland 
Mission  to  control  the  expenditure  of  almost  a 
million  dollars  of  his  money  in  such  a  way  as  best 
to  secure  the  object  in  his  heart.  An  American 
gives  a  large  sum  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  of  his  home  city  to  be  expended  as 
directed.  His  thought  is  not  to  build  up  this 
particular  organization,  but  to  benefit  large  num- 
bers of  the  young  men  of  his  town  who  will 
meet  certain  conditions  which  he  thinks  to  be  for 
their  good.  He  has  learned  to  trust  this  organi- 
zation, and  so  it  becomes  his  trustee. 

Another  man  feels  that  if  the  people  of  New 
York  City  can  be  given  good  reading  they  can 
thereby  best  be  helped  in  life.  And  so  he  volun- 
teers money  for  a  number  of  libraries  throughout 
that  city.     And  thousands  who  yearn  to  increase 


52  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

their  knowledge  come  into  sympathy  with  him 
in  that  one  point  through  his  gift.  In  all  such 
cases  the  giver's  thought  is  to  accomplish  certain 
results  in  those  whose  purpose  in  certain  direc- 
tions is  sympathetic  with  his  own. 

Any  human  illustration  of  God  must  seem 
crude.  Yet  of  these  three  sorts  of  givers  there 
is  one  and  only  one  that  begins  to  suggest  how 
God  gives.  It  may  seem  like  a  very  sweeping 
statement  to  make,  yet  I  am  more  and  more  dis- 
posed to  believe  it  true  that  most  persons  have 
unthinkingly  thought  of  God's  answering  prayer 
as  the  first  of  these  three  men  give.  Many  others 
have  had  in  mind  some  such  thought  as  the 
second  suggests.  Yet  to  state  the  case  even  thus 
definitely  is  to  make  it  plain  that  neither  of  these 
ways  in  any  manner  illustrate  God's  giving.  The 
third  comes  the  nearest  to  picturing  the  God  who 
hears  and  answers  prayer.  Our  God  has  a  great 
heart  yearning  after  His  poor  prodigal  world,  and 
after  each  one  in  it.  He  longs  to  have  the  effects 
of  sin  removed,  and  the  original  image  restored. 
He  takes  the  initiative.  Yet  everything  that  is 
done  for  man  must  of  necessity  be  through  man's 
will ;  by  his  free  and  glad  consent.  The  obstacles 
in  the  way  are  not  numberless  nor  insurmount- 
able, but  they  are  many  and  they  are  stubborn. 
There  is  a  keen,  cunning  pretender-prince  who  is 
a  past-master  in  the  fine  art  of  handling  men. 
There  are  wills  warped  and  weakened;  con- 
sciences blurred;   minds  the  opposite  of  keen. 


Does  Prayer  Influence  God?        53 

sensibilities  whose  edge  has  been  dulled  beyond 
ordinary  hope  of  being  ever  made  keen  again. 
Sin  has  not  only  stained  the  life,  but  warped  the 
judgment,  sapped  the  will,  and  blurred  the  mental 
vision.  And  God  has  a  hard  time  just  because 
every  change  must  of  necessity  be  through  that 
sapped  and  warped  will. 

Yet  the  difficulty  though  great  is  never  com- 
plex but  very  simple.  And  so  the  statement  of 
His  purpose  is  ever  exquisitely  simple.  Listen 
again:  "Call  unto  Me,  and  I  will  answer  thee 
and  shew  thee  great  things  and  difficult  which 
thou  knowest  not."  If  a  man  call  he  has  already 
turned  his  face  towards  God.  His  will  has  acted, 
and  acted  doubly;  away  from  the  opposite,  and 
towards  God,  a  simple  step  but  a  tremendous 
one.  The  calling  is  the  point  of  sympathetic  con- 
tact with  God  where  their  purposes  become  the 
same.  The  caller  is  beset  by  difficulties  and  longs 
for  freedom.  The  God  who  speaks  to  him  saw 
the  difficulties  long  ago  and  eagerly  longed  to  re- 
move them.  Now  they  have  come  to  agreement. 
And  through  this  willing  will  God  eagerly  works 
out  His  purpose. 

A  Very  Old  Question, 

This  leads  to  a  very  old  question:  Does  prayer 
influence  God  ?  No  question  has  been  discussed 
more,  or  more  earnestly.  Skeptical  men  of  fine 
scientific  training  have  with  great  positiveness 
said  "  no."    And  Christian  men  of  scholarly  train- 


54  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

ing  and  strong  faith  have  with  equal  positiveness 
said  "yes."  Strange  to  say  both  have  been  right. 
Not  right  in  all  their  statements,  nor  right  in  all 
their  beliefs,  nor  right  in  all  their  processes  of 
thinking,  but  right  in  their  ultimate  conclusions 
as  represented  by  these  short  words,  "no,"  and 
"yes."  Prayer  does  not  influence  God.  Prayer 
surely  does  influence  God.  It  does  not  influence 
His  purpose.  It  does  influence  His  action. 
Everything  that  ever  has  been  prayed  for,  of 
course  I  mean  every  right  thing,  God  has  already 
purposed  to  do.  But  He  does  nothing  without 
our  consent.  He  has  been  hindered  in  His  pur- 
poses by  our  lack  of  willingness.  When  we 
learn  His  purposes  and  make  them  our  prayers 
we  are  giving  Him  the  opportunity  to  act.  It  is 
a  double  opportunity:  man  ward  and  Satanward. 
We  are  willing.  Our  willingness  checkmates 
Satan's  opposition.  It  opens  the  path  to  God 
and  rids  it  of  the  obstacles.  And  so  the  road  is 
cleared  for  the  free  action  already  planned. 

The  further  question  of  nature's  laws  being 
sometimes  set  aside  is  wholly  a  secondary  mat- 
ter. Nature's  laws  are  merely  God's  habit  of 
action  in  handling  secondary  forces.  They  in- 
volve no  purpose  of  God.  His  purposes  are  re- 
garding moral  issues.  That  the  sun  shall  stay  a 
bit  longer  than  usual  over  a  certain  part  of  the 
earth  is  a  mere  detail  with  God.  It  does  not  af- 
fect His  power  for  the  whole  affair  is  under  His 
finger.     It  does  not  affect  His  purpose  for  that  is 


Does  Prayer  Influence  God?        55 

concerning  far  more  serious  matters.  The  emer- 
gencies of  earth  wrought  by  sin  necessitate  just 
such  incidents,  that  the  great  purpose  of  God  for 
man  shall  be  accomplished. 

Emergencies  change  all  habits  of  action,  divine 
and  human.  They  are  the  real  test  of  power. 
If  a  man  throw  down  the  bundle  he  is  carrying 
and  make  a  quick  wild  dash  out  into  the  middle 
of  the  street,  dropping  his  hat  on  the  way,  and 
grasp  convulsively  for  something  on  the  ground 
when  no  cause  appears  for  such  action  we  would 
quickly  conclude  that  the  proper  place  for  him 
is  an  asylum.  But  if  a  little  toddling  child  is 
almost  under  the  horse's  hoofs,  or  the  trolley  car, 
no  one  thinks  of  criticising,  but  instead  admires 
his  courage,  and  quick  action,  and  breathlessly 
watches  for  the  result.  Emergencies  call  for 
special  action.  They  should  control  actions,  where 
they  exist.  Emergencies  explain  action,  and  ex- 
plain satisfactorily  what  nothing  else  could  ex- 
plain. 

The  world  is  in  a  great  emergency  through 
sin.  Only  as  that  tremendous  fact  grips  us  shall 
we  be  men  of  prayer,  and  men  of  action  up  to  the 
limit  of  the  need,  and  to  the  limit  of  the  possibili- 
ties. Only  as  that  intense  fact  is  kept  in  mind 
shall  we  begin  to  understand  God's  actions  in 
history,  and  in  our  personal  experiences.  The 
greatest  event  of  earth,  the  cross,  was  an  emer- 
gency action. 

The  fact  that  prayer  does  not  make  any  change 


56  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

in  God's  thought  or  purpose,  reveals  His  marvel- 
lous love  in  a  very  tender  way. 

Suppose  1  want  something  very  much  and  need 
as  well  as  want.  And  1  go  to  God  and  ask  for 
it.  And  suppose  He  is  reluctant  about  giving: 
had  not  thought  about  giving  me  that  thing;  and 
rather  hesitates.  But  1  am  insistent,  and  plead 
and  persist  and  by  and  by  God  is  impressed  with 
my  earnestness,  and  sees  that  I  really  need  the 
thing,  and  answers  my  prayer,  and  gives  me 
what  I  ask.  Is  not  that  a  loving  God  so  to  listen 
and  yield  to  my  plea.?  Surely.  How  many  times 
just  such  an  instance  has  taken  place  between  a 
child  and  his  father,  or  mother.  And  the  child 
thinks  to  himself,  "  How  loving  father  is;  he  has 
given  me  the  thing  1  asked  for." 

But  suppose  God  is  thinking  about  me  all  the 
time,  and  planning,  with  love-plans  for  me,  and 
longing  to  give  me  much  that  He  has.  Yet  in  His 
wisdom  He  does  not  give  because  /  do  not 
know  my  own  need,  and  have  not  opened  my 
hand  to  receive,  yes,  and,  further  yet,  likely  as 
not,  not  knowing  my  need  1  might  abuse,  or  mis- 
use, or  fail  to  use,  something  given  before  I 
had  felt  the  need  of  it.  And  now  I  come  to  see 
and  feel  that  need  and  come  and  ask  and  He,  de- 
lighted with  the  change  in  me,  eagerly  gives. 
Tell  me,  is  not  that  a  very  much  more  loving  God 
than  the  other  conception  suggests  ?  The  truth 
is  that  is  God.  Jesus  says,  "Your  Father  know- 
eth  what  things  ye  have  need  of  before  ye  ask,'* 


Does  Prayer  Influence  God?        57 

And  He  is  a  Father.  And  with  God  the  word 
father  means  mother  too.  Then  what  He  knows 
we  need  He  has  already  planned  to  give.  The 
great  question  for  me  then  in  praying  for  some 
personal  thing  is  this:  Do  /  know  what  He 
knows  I  need  ?  Am  I  thinking  about  what  He  is 
thinking  about  for  me  ? 

And  then  remember  that  God  is  so  much  more 
in  His  loving  planning  than  the  wisest,  most  lov- 
ing father  we  know.  Does  a  mother  think  into 
her  child's  needs,  the  food,  and  clothing  and  the 
extras  too,  the  luxuries  ?  That  is  God,  only  He 
is  more  loving  and  wiser  than  the  best  of  us.  I 
have  sometimes  thought  this:  that  if  God  were 
to  say  to  me:  "I  want  to  give  you  something  as 
a  special  love-gift;  an  extra  because  I  love  you: 
what  would  you  like  to  have  }  "  Do  you  know 
I  have  thought  I  would  say,  "Dear  God,  you 
choose.  /  choose  what  you  choose."  He  is 
thinking  about  me.  He  knows  what  1  am  think- 
ing of,  and  what  I  would  most  enjoy,  and  He  is 
such  a  lover-God  that  He  would  choose  something 
just  a  bit  finer  than  I  would  think.  I  might  be  think- 
ing of  a  dollar,  but  likely  as  not  He  is  thinking  of  a 
double  eagle.  I  am  thinking  of  blackberries,  big, 
juicy  blackberries,  but  really  I  do  not  know  what 
blackberries  are  beside  the  sort  He  knows  and 
would  choose  for  me.  That  is  our  God.  Prayer 
does  not  and  cannot  change  the  purpose  of  such 
a  God.  For  every  right  and  good  thing  we  might 
ask  for  He  has  already  planned  to  give  us.    But 


58  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

prayer  does  change  the  action  of  God.  Because 
He  cannot  give  against  our  wills,  and  our 
willingness  as  expressed  by  our  asking  gives  Him 
the  opportunity  to  do  as  He  has  already  planned. 

The  Greatest  Prayer. 

There  is  a  greatest  prayer,  the  greatest  that  can 
be  offered.  It  is  the  substratum  of  every  true 
prayer.  It  is  the  undercurrent  in  the  stream  of 
all  Spirit-breathed  prayer.  Jesus  Himself  gives  it 
to  us  in  the  only  form  of  prayer  He  left  for  our 
use.  It  is  small  in  size,  but  mighty  in  power. 
Four  words — "Thy  will  be  done."  Let  us  draw 
up  our  chairs,  and  brew  it  over  mentally,  that  its 
strength  and  fragrance  may  come  up  into  our 
nostrils,  and  fill  our  very  beings. 

"  Thy " ;  That  is  God.  On  one  side.  He  is 
wise,  with  all  of  the  intellectual  strength,  and  keen- 
ness and  poised  judgment  that  that  word  among 
men  brings  to  us.  On  another  side.  He  is  strong, 
with  all  that  that  word  can  imply  of  might  and 
power  irresistible.  On  still  another  side  He  is  good, 
pure,  holy  with  the  finest  thought  those  words 
ever  suggest  to  us  in  those  whom  we  know  best, 
or  in  our  dreams  and  visions.  Then  on  a  side 
remaining,  the  tender  personal  side,  He  is — lov- 
ing ?  No,  that  is  quite  inadequate.  He  is  love. 
Its  personification  is  He.  Now  remember  that 
we  do  not  know  the  meaning  of  those  words. 
Our  best  definition  and  thought  of  them,  even  in 
our  dreams,    when  we  let  ourselves  out,   but 


Does  Prayer  Influence  God?        59 

hang  around  the  outskirts.  The  heart  of  them 
we  do  not  know.  Those  words  mean  infinitely 
more  than  we  think.  Their  meaning  is  a  projec- 
tion along  the  lines  of  our  thought  of  them,  but 
measurelessly  beyond  our  highest  reach. 

And  then,  this  God,  wise,  strong,  good,  and 
love,  is  kin  to  us.     We  belong  to  Him. 

«  We  are  His  flock ; 
He  doth  us  feed. 
And  for  His  sheep, 
He  doth  us  take." 

We  are  His  children  by  creation,  and  by  a  new 
creation  in  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  ours,  by  His  own 
act.  That  is  the  *'Thy" — a  God  wise,  strong, 
pure,  who  is  love,  and  who  is  a  Father-mother- 
God,  and  is  our  God. 

**Thy  will."  God's  will  is  His  desires.  His 
purposes,  that  which  He  wishes  to  occur,  and 
that  to  which  He  gives  His  strength  that  it  may 
occur.  The  earth  is  His  creation.  Men  are  His 
children.  Judging  from  wise  loving  parents 
among  men  He  has  given  Himself  to  thinking 
and  studying  and  planning  for  all  men,  and  every 
man,  and  for  the  earth.  His  plan  is  the  most 
wise,  pure,  loving  plan  that  can  be  thought  of,  and 
more.  It  takes  in  the  whole  sweep  of  our  lives, 
and  every  detail  of  them.  Nothing  escapes  the 
love-vigilance  of  our  God.  What  can  be  so  vigi- 
lant and  keen  as  love  ?  Hate,  the  exact  reverse, 
comes  the  nearest.     It  is  ever  the  extremes  that 


6o  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

meet.  But  hate  cannot  come  up  to  love  for  keen 
watchfulness  at  every  turn.  Health,  strength, 
home,  loved  ones,  friendships,  money,  guidance, 
protecting  care,  the  necessities,  the  extras  that 
love  ever  thinks  of,  service — all  these  are  included 
in  God's  loving  thought  for  us.  That  is  His  v^ill. 
It  is  modified  by  the  degree  of  our  consent,  and 
further  modified  by  the  circumstances  of  our 
lives.  Life  has  become  a  badly  tangled  skein  of 
threads.  God  with  infinite  patience  and  skill  is 
at  work  untangling  and  bringing  the  best  possi- 
ble out  of  the  tangle.  What  is  absolutely  best  is 
rarely  relatively  best.  That  which  is  best  in  itself 
is  usually  not  best  under  certain  circumstances, 
with  human  lives  in  the  balance.  God  has  fathom- 
less skill,  and  measureless  patience,  and  a  love 
utterly  beyond  both.  He  is  ever  working  out  the 
best  thing  possible  under  every  circumstance.  He 
could  oftentimes  do  more,  and  do  it  in  much  less 
time  if  our  human  wills  were  more  pliant  to  His. 
He  can  be  trusted.  And  of  course  trust  means 
trust  in  the  darkest  dark  where  you  cannot  see. 
And  trust  means  trust.  It  does  not  mean  test. 
Where  you  trust  you  do  not  test.  Where  you  test 
you  do  not  trust.  Making  this  our  prayer  means 
trusting  God.  That  is  God,  and  that  His  will, 
and  that  the  meaning  of  our  offering  this  prayer. 
"Thy  will  be."  A  man's  will  is  the  man  in  ac- 
tion, within  the  limits  of  his  power.  God's  will  for 
man  is  Himself  in  action,  within  the  limits  of  our 
cooperation.    Be  is  a  verb,  an  action-word,  in  the 


Does  Prayer  Influence  God?        6i 

passive  voice.  It  takes  some  form  of  the  verb  to 
be  to  express  the  passive  voice  of  any  action- 
word.  It  takes  the  intensest  activity  of  will  to 
put  this  passive  voice  into  human  action.  The 
greatest  strength  is  revealed  in  intelligent  yield- 
ing. Here  the  prayer  is  expressing  the  utter 
willingness  of  a  man  that  God's  will  shall  be 
done  in  him,  and  through  him.  A  man  never 
loses  his  will,  unless  indeed  he  lose  his  manhood. 
But  here  he  makes  that  will  as  strong  as  it  can  be 
made,  as  a  bit  of  steel,  better  like  the  strong  oak, 
strong  enough  to  sway  and  bend  in  the  wind. 
Then  he  uses  all  its  strength  in  becoming  passive 
to  a  higher  will.  And  that  too  when  the  purpose 
of  that  higher  will  is  not  clear  to  his  own  limited 
knowledge  and  understanding. 

"  Thy  will  be  done."  That  is,  be  accomplished, 
be  brought  to  pass.  The  word  stands  for 
the  action  in  its  perfected,  finished  state.  Thy 
will  be  fully  accomplished  in  its  whole  sweep 
and  in  all  its  items.  It  speaks  not  only  the 
earnest  desire  of  the  heart  praying,  but  the 
set  purpose  that  everything  in  the  life  is 
held  subject  to  the  doing  of  this  purpose  of 
God.  It  means  that  surrender  of  purpose  that 
has  utterly  changed  the  lives  of  the  strongest 
men  in  order  that  the  purpose  of  God  might  be 
dominant.  It  cut  off  from  a  great  throne  earth's 
greatest  jurist,  the  Hebrew  lawgiver,  and  led  him 
instead  to  be  allied  to  a  race  of  slaves.  It  led  that 
intellectual  giant  Jeremiah  from  an  easy  enjoyable 


62  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

leadership  to  espouse  a  despised  cause  and  so  be 
himself  despised.  It  led  Paul  from  the  leadership 
of  his  generation  in  a  great  nation  to  untold  suf- 
fering, and  to  a  block  and  an  ax.  It  led  Jesus  the 
very  Son  of  God,  away  from  a  kingship  to  a 
cross.  In  every  generation  it  has  radically  changed 
lives,  and  life-ambitions.  "Thy  will  be  done" 
is  the  great  dominant  purpose-prayer  that  has 
been  the  pathway  of  God  in  all  His  great  doings 
among  men. 

That  will  is  being  done  everywhere  else  in 
God's  great  world  of  worlds,  save  on  the  earth 
and  that  portion  of  the  spirit  world  allied  to  this 
earth.  Everywhere  else  there  is  the  perfect  music 
of  harmony  with  God's  will.  Here  only  is  heard 
the  harsh  discordant  note. 

With  this  prayer  go  two  clauses  that  really 
particularize  and  explain  it.  They  are  included 
in  it,  and  are  added  to  make  more  clear  the  full 
intent.  The  first  of  these  clauses  gives  the  sweep 
of  His  will  in  its  broadest  outlines.  The  second 
touches  the  opposition  to  that  will  both  for  our 
individual  lives  and  for  the  race  and  the  earth. 

The  first  clause  is  this,  *'  Thy  kingdom  come." 
In  both  of  these  short  sentences,  "  Thy  will  be 
done,"  "Thy  kingdom  come,"  the  emphatic 
word  is  "Thy."  That  word  is  set  in  sharpest 
possible  contrast  here.  There  is  another  king- 
dom now  on  the  earth.  There  is  another  will 
being  done.  This  other  kingdom  must  go  if 
God's  kingdom  is  to  come.     These  kingdoms  are 


Does  Prayer  Influence  God*?        63 

antagonistic  at  every  point  of  contact.  They  are 
rivals  for  the  same  allegiance  and  the  same  terri- 
tory. They  cannot  exist  together.  Charles  II 
and  Cromwell  cannot  remain  in  London  together. 
**  Thy  kingdom  come,"  of  necessity  includes  this, 
"the other  kingdom  go."  '*  Thy  kingdom  come" 
means  likewise  **  Thy  king  come,"  for  in  the 
nature  of  things  there  cannot  be  a  kingdom  with- 
out a  king.  That  means  again  by  the  same  in- 
ference, "the  other  prince  go,"  the  one  who 
makes  pretensions  to  being  rightful  heir  to  the 
throne.  "Thy  will  be  done"  includes  by  the 
same  inference  this : — "  the  other  will  be  undone." 
This  is  the  first  great  explanatory  clause  to  be 
connected  with  this  greatest  prayer,  "Thy  king- 
dom come."  It  gives  the  sweep  of  God's  will  in 
its  broadest  outlines. 

The  second  clause  included  in  the  prayer,  and 
added  to  make  clear  the  swing  of  action  is  this — 
"deliver  us  from  the  evil  one."  These  two  sen- 
tences, "Thy  will  be  done,"  and  "deliver  us 
from  the  evil  one,"  are  naturally  connected.  Each 
statement  includes  the  other.  To  have  God's  will 
fully  done  in  us  means  emancipation  from  every 
influence  of  the  evil  one,  either  direct  or  indirect, 
or  by  hereditary  taint.  To  be  delivered  from  the 
evil  one  means  that  every  thought  and  plan  of 
God  for  our  lives  shall  be  fully  carried  out. 

There  are  the  two  great  wills  at  work  in  the 
world  ever  clashing  in  the  action  of  history  and 
in  our  individual  lives.     In  many  of  us,  aye,  in 


64  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

all  of  us,  though  in  greatly  varying  degree,  these 
two  wills  constantly  clash.  Man  is  the  real  bat- 
tle-field. The  pitch  of  the  battle  is  in  his  will. 
God  will  not  do  His  will  in  a  man  without  the 
man's  will  consenting.  And  Satan  cannot.  At 
the  root  the  one  thing  that  works  against  God's 
will  is  the  evil  one's  will.  And  on  the  other  hand 
the  one  thing  that  effectively  thwarts  Satan's 
plans  is  a  man  wholly  given  up  to  God's  will. 

The  greatest  prayer  then  fully  expressed, 
sweeps  first  the  whole  field  of  action,  then 
touches  the  heart  of  the  action,  and  then  attacks 
the  opposition.  It  is  this: — Thy  kingdom  come: 
Thy  will  be  done:  deliver  us  from  the  evil  one. 
Every  true  prayer  ever  offered  comes  under  this 
simple  comprehensive  prayer.  It  may  be  offered, 
it  is  offered  with  an  infinite  variety  of  detail.  It 
is  greatest  because  of  its  sweep.  It  includes  all 
other  petitions,  for  God's  will  includes  everything 
for  which  prayer  is  rightly  offered.  It  is  greatest 
in  its  intensity.  It  hits  the  very  bull's-eye  of, op- 
position to  God. 


11.     HINDRANCES  TO   PRAYER 


1.  Why  the  Results  Fail. 

2.  Why  the  Results  are  Delayed. 

3.  The  Great  Outside  Hindrance,  or,  the 

Relation  of  Prayer  to  Satan. 


why  the  Results  Fail 


Breaking  with  God. 

God  answers  prayer.  Prayer  is  God  and  man 
joining  hands  to  secure  some  high  end.  He  joins 
with  us  through  the  communication  of  prayer  in 
accomplishing  certain  great  results.  This  is  the 
main  drive  of  prayer.  Our  asking  and  expecting 
and  God's  doing  jointly  bring  to  pass  things  that 
otherwise  would  not  come  to  pass.  Prayer 
changes  things.     This  is  the  great  fact  of  prayer. 

Yet  a  great  many  prayers  are  not  answered.  Or, 
to  put  it  more  accurately,  a  great  many  prayers 
fail  utterly  of  accomplishing  any  results.  Prob- 
ably it  is  accurate  to  say  that  thousands  of  prayers 
go  up  and  bring  nothing  down.  This  is  certainly 
true.  Let  us  say  it  just  as  bluntly  and  plainly  as 
it  can  be  said.  As  a  result  many  persons  are  say- 
ing: "Well,  prayer  is  not  what  you  claim  for  it: 
we  prayed  and  no  answer  came:  nothing  was 
changed." 

From  all  sorts  of  circles,  and  in  all  sorts  of  lan- 
guage comes  this  statement.  Scholarly  men  who 
write  with  wisdom's  words,  and  thoughtless 
people  whose  thinking  never  even  pricks  the  skin 

67 


68  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

of  the  subject,  and  all  sorts  of  people  in  between 
group  themselves  together  here.  And  they  are 
right,  quite  right.  The  bother  is  that  what  they 
say  is  not  all  there  is  to  be  said.  There  is  yet 
more  to  be  said,  that  is  right  too,  and  that 
changes  the  final  conclusion  radically.  Partial 
truth  is  a  very  mean  sort  of  lie. 

The  prayer  plan  like  many  another  has  been 
much  disturbed,  and  often  broken.  And  one 
who  would  be  a  partner  with  God  up  to  the 
limit  of  his  power  must  understand  the  things 
that  hinder  the  prayer  plan.  There  are  three 
sorts  of  hindrances  to  prayer.  First  of  all  there 
are  things  in  us  that  break  off  connection  with 
God,  the  source  of  the  changing  power.  Then 
there  are  certain  things  in  us  that  delay,  or  dimin- 
ish the  results;  that  interfere  with  the  full  swing 
of  the  prayer  plan  of  operations.  And  then  there 
is  a  great  outside  hindrance  to  be  reckoned  upon. 
To-day  we  want  to  talk  together  of  the  first  of 
these,  namely,  the  hindrances  that  break  off 
connections  between  God  and  His  human  part- 
ner. 

Here  again  there  is  a  division  into  three.  There 
are  three  things  directly  spoken  of  in  the  book  of 
God  that  hinder  prayer.  One  of  these  is  a  famil- 
iar thing.  What  a  pity  that  repugnant  things 
may  become  so  familiar  as  no  longer  to  repel. 
It  is  this: — sin  hinders  prayer.  In  Isaiah's  first 
chapter  God  Himself  speaking  says,  **  When  you 
stretch  out  your  hands  " — the  way  they  prayed. 


Why  the  Results  Fail  69 

standing  with  outstretched  hands — "  I  will  shut 
My  eyes  ;  when  you  make  many  prayers,  I  will 
shut  My  ears."  ^  Why?  What's  the  difficulty  ? 
These  outstretched  hands  are  soiled  /  They  are 
actually  holding  their  sin-soiled  hands  up  into 
God's  face;  and  He  is  compelled  to  look  at  the 
thing  most  hateful  to  Him.  In  the  fifty-ninth 
chapter  of  this  same  book/  God  Himself  is  talk- 
ing again.  Listen  "  Behold !  the  Lord's  hand  is  not 
shortened:  His  ear  is  not  heavy."  There  is  no 
trouble  on  the  up  side.  God  is  all  right.  "  But " 
— listen  with  both  your  ears — ''your  iniquities 
.  .  .  your  sins  .  .  .  your  hands  .  .  . 
your  fingers  .  .  .  your  lips  .  .  .  your 
tongue  ..."  the  slime  of  sin  is  oozing  over 
everything !  Turn  back  to  that  sixty-sixth  Psalm ' 
—  "if  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart  the  Lord  will 
not  hear  me."  How  much  more  if  the  sin  of  the 
heart  get  into  the  hands  or  the  life!  And  the 
fact  to  put  down  plainly  in  blackest  ink  once  for 
all  is  this— 5m  hinders  prayer.  There  is  nothing 
surprising  about  this.  That  we  can  think  the  re- 
verse is  the  surprising  thing.  Prayer  is  transact- 
ing business  with  God.  Sin  is  breaking  with 
God. 

Suppose  I  had  a  private  wire  from  my  apart- 
ments here  to  my  home  in  Cleveland,  and  some 
one  should  go  outside  and  drag  the  wire  down 
until    it    touches    the    ground— a    good  square 

» Isaiah  i :  15.  8  jsaiah  59  : 1-3. 

3  Psalm  66:  18.  ^^       ^ 


JO  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

touch  with  the  ground — the  electricians  would 
call  it  grounded,  could  I  telegraph  over  that  wire? 
Almost  any  child  knows  1  could  not.  Suppose 
some  one  cuts  the  wire,  a  good  clean  cut;  the  two 
ends  are  apart:  not  a  mile;  not  a  yard;  but  dis- 
tinctly apart.  Could  I  telegraph  on  that  wire  ? 
Of  course  not.  Yet  I  might  sit  in  my  room  and 
tick  away  by  the  hour  wholly  absorbed,  and  use 
most  beautiful  persuasive  language— what  is  the 
good?  The  wire's  cut.  All  my  fine  pleading 
goes  into  the  ground,  or  the  air.  Now  sin  cuts 
the  wire;  it  runs  the  message  into  the  ground. 

"Well,"  some  one  will  object,  **now  you're 
cutting  us  all  out,  are  you  not  ?  Are  we  not  all 
conscious  of  a  sinful  something  inside  here  that 
has  to  be  fought,  and  held  under  all  the  while  ?" 
It  certainly  seems  to  be  true  that  the  nearer  a  man 
gets  to  God  the  more  keenly  conscious  he  is  of 
a  sinful  tendency  within  even  while  having  con- 
tinual victory.  But  plainly  enough  what  the 
Book  means  here  is  this:— if  I  am  holding  some- 
thing in  my  life  that  the  Master  does  not  like, 
if  I  am  failing  to  obey  when  His  voice  has 
spoken,  that  to  me  is  sin.  It  may  be  wrong  in 
itself.  It  may  not  be  wrong  in  itself.  It 
may  not  be  wrong  for  another.  Sometimes 
it  is  not  the  thing  involved  but  the  One  in- 
volved that  makes  the  issue.  If  that  faithful 
quiet  inner  voice  has  spoken  and  I  know  what 
the  Master  would  prefer  and  I  fail  to  keep  in  line, 
that  to  me  is  sin.    Then  prayer  is  useless ;  sheer 


Why  the  Results  Fail  71 

waste  of  breath.  Aye,  worse,  it  is  deceptive. 
For  I  am  apt  to  say  or  think,  **  Well,  I  am  not  as 
good  as  you,  or  you,  but  then  I  am  not  so  bad; 
/  pray."  And  the  truth  is  because  I  have  broken 
with  God  the  praying — saying  words  in  that 
form — is  utterly  worthless. 

You  see  sin  is  slapping  God  in  the  face.  It 
may  be  polished,  cultured  sin.  Sin  seems  capa- 
ble of  taking  quite  a  high  polish.  Or  it  may  be 
the  common  gutter  stuff.  A  man  is  not  con- 
cerned about  the  grain  of  a  club  that  strikes  him 
a  blow.  How  can  He  and  I  talk  together  if 
I  have  done  that,  and  stick  to  it — not  even  apolo- 
gized. And  of  what  good  is  an  apology  if  the 
offense  is  being  repeated.  And  if  we  cannot 
talk  together  of  course  working  together  is  out 
of  the  question.  And  prayer  is  working  together 
with  God.  Prayer  is  pulling  with  God  in  His 
plan  for  a  world. 

Shall  we  not  put  out  the  thing  that  is  wrong  ? 
or  put  in  the  thing  the  Master  wants  in  ?  For 
Jesus'  sake?  Aye  for  men's  sake:  poor  be- 
fooled men's  sake  who  are  being  kept  out  and 
away  because  God  cannot  get  at  them  through 
us! 

Shall  we  bow  and  ask  forgiveness  for  our  sin, 
and  petty  stubbornness  that  has  been  thwarting 
the  Master's  love-plan  ?  And  yet  even  while  we 
ask  forgiveness  there  are  lives  out  yonder  warped 
and  dwarfed  and  worse  because  of  the  hindrance 
in  us;  yes,  and  remaining  so  as  we  slip  out  of 


72  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

this  meeting.     May  the  fact  send  us  out  to  walk 
very  softly  these  coming  days. 

A  Coaling  Station  for  Safaris  Fleet 

There  is  a  second  thing  that  is  plainly  spoken 
of  that  hinders  prayer.  James  speaks  of  it  in  his 
letter.^  "Ye  have  not  because  ye  ^5^  not "  — that 
explains  many  parched  up  lives  and  churches  and 
unsolved  problems:  no  pipe  lines  run  up  to  tap 
the  reservoir,  and  give  God  an  opening  into  the 
troubled  territory.  Then  he  pushes  on  to  say — 
"Ye  ask,  and  receive  not'' — ah!  there's  just  the 
rub;  it  is  evidently  an  old  story,  this  thing  of  not 
receiving — why?  "because  ye  ask  amiss  to 
spend  it  in  your  pleasures.''  That  is  to  say  self- 
ish praying;  asking  for  something  just  because  I 
want  it;  want  it  for  myself. 

Here  is  a  mother  praying  for  her  boy.  He  is 
just  growing  up  towards  young  manhood;  not  a 
Christian  boy  yet;  but  a  good  boy.  She  is  think- 
ing, "I  want  my  boy  to  be  an  honour  to  me  ; 
he  bears  my  name;  my  blood  is  in  his  veins;  I 
don't  want  my  boy  to  be  a  prodigal.  I  want  him 
to  be  a  fine  man,  an  honour  to  the  family;  and 
if  he  is  a  true  Christian,  he  likely  will  be;  I  wish 
he  were  a  Christian,"  And  so  she  prays,  and 
prays  repeatedly  and  fervently.  God  might 
touch  her  boy's  heart  and  say,  "  I  want  you  out 
here  in  India  to  help  win  my  prodigal  world 
back."     Oh!  she  did  not  mean  that!    Her  hoy 

1  James  4 :  2,  3. 


Why  the  Results  Fail  73 

in  far,  far  off /w^/a /  Oh,  no!  Not  that!!  Yes, 
what  she  wanted — that  was  the  whole  thought — 
selfishness;  the  stream  turning  in  to  a  dead  sea 
within  her  own  narrow  circle;  no  thought  of 
sympathy  with  God  in  His  eager  outreach  for 
His  poor  sin-befooled  world.  The  prayer  itself 
in  its  object  is  perfectly  proper,  and  rightly  of- 
fered and  answered  times  without  number;  but 
the  motive  wholly,  uglily  selfish  and  the  selfish- 
ness itself  becomes  a  foothold  for  Satan  and  so 
the  purpose  of  the  prayer  is  thwarted. 

Here  is  a  wife  praying  that  her  husband  might 
become  a  Christian.  Perhaps  her  thought  is: 
"I  wish  John  were  a  Christian:  it  would  be  so 
good:  it  really  seems  the  proper  thing:  he  would 
go  to  church  with  me,  and  sit  in  the  pew  Sunday 
morning:  I'd  like  that."  Perhaps  she  thinks: 
*'  He  would  be  careful  about  swearing;  he  would 
quit  drinking;  and  be  nicer  and  gentler  at  home." 
Maybe  she  thinks:  "  He  would  ask  a  blessing 
at  the  meals;  that  would  be  so  nice."  Maybe 
she  thinks:  **  We  would  have  family  prayers." 
Maybe  that  does  not  occur  to  her  these  days. 
This  is  what  I  say:  If  her  thought  does  not  go 
beyond  some  such  range,  of  course  you  would 
say  it  is  selfish.  She  is  thinking  of  herself;  not 
of  the  loving  grieved  God  against  whom  her 
husband  is  in  rebellion;  not  of  the  real  signifi- 
cance to  the  man.  God  might  touch  her  husband's 
heart,  and  then  say:  **I  want  you  to  help  Me 
win  My  poor  world  back."    And  the  change 


74  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

would  mean  a  reduced  income,  and  a  different 
social  position.  Oh!  she  had  not  meant  that  I 
Yes— what  she  wanted  for  herself! 

Here  is  a  minister  praying  for  a  revival  in  his 
church.  Maybe  he  is  thinking;  no,  not  exactly 
thinking;  it  is  just  half  thinking  itself  out  in  his 
sub-consciousness — ''1  wish  we  had  a  good  re- 
vival in  our  church;  increased  membership;  larger 
attendance;  easier  finances;  may  be  an  extra 
hundred  or  two  in  my  own  pocket;  increased 
prestige  in  the  denomination;  a  better  call  or  ap- 
pointment: I  wish  we  might  have  a  revival." 
Now  no  true  minister  ever  talked  that  way 
even  to  himself  or  deliberately  thought  it.  To 
do  so  would  be  to  see  the  mean  contemptibility 
of  it.  But  you  know  how  sly  we  all  are  in  our 
underneath  scarcely-thought-out  thoughts.  This 
is  what  1  say:  if  that  be  the  sort  of  thing  under- 
neath a  man's  praying  of  course  the  motive  is 
utterly  selfish;  a  bit  of  the  same  thing  that 
brought  Satan  his  change  of  name  and  character. 

Please  notice  that  the  reason  for  the  prayer  not 
being  answered  here  is  not  an  arbitrary  reluctance 
upon  God's  part  to  do  a  desirable  thing.  He 
never  fails  to  work  whenever  He  has  a  half 
chance  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  work,  even 
through  men  of  faulty  conceptions  and  mixed 
motives.  The  reason  lies  much  deeper.  It  is 
this:  selfishness  gives  Satan  a  footing.  It  gives 
a  coaling  station  for  his  fleet  on  the  shore  of  your 
life.    And  of  course  he  does  his  best  to  prevent 


Why  the  Results  Fail  75 

the  prayer,  or  when  he  cannot  wholly  prevent,  to 
spoil  the  results  as  far  as  he  can. 

Prayer  may  properly  be  offered — will  be  prop- 
erly offered  for  many  Wholly  personal  things;  for 
physical  strength,  healing  in  sickness,  about 
dearly  loved  ones,  money  needed;  indeed  regard- 
ing things  that  may  not  be  necessary  but  only 
desirable  and  enjoyable,  for  ours  is  a  loving  God 
who  would  have  His  dear  ones  enjoy  to  the  full 
their  lives  down  here.  But  the  motive  determines 
the  propriety  of  such  requests.  Where  the 
whole  purpose  of  one's  life  is  for  Him  these 
things  may  be  asked  for  freely  as  His  gracious 
Spirit  within  guides.  And  there  need  be  no  bond- 
age of  morbid  introspection,  no  continual  internal 
rakings.  He  knows  if  the  purpose  of  the  heart  is 
to  please  Him. 

The  Shortest  Way  to  God. 

A  third  thing  spoken  of  as  hindering  prayer  is 
an  unforgiving  spirit.  You  have  noticed  that 
Jesus  speaks  much  about  prayer  and  also  speaks 
much  about  forgiveness.  But  have  you  noticed 
how,  over  and  over  again  He  couples  these  two — 
prayer  and  forgiveness  ?  I  used  to  wonder  why. 
1  do  not  so  much  now.  Nearly  everywhere 
evidence  keeps  slipping  in  of  the  sore  spots. 
One  may  try  to  keep  his  lips  closed  on  certain 
subjects,  but  it  seems  about  impossible  to  keep  the 
ears  entirely  shut.  And  continually  the  evidence 
keeps  sifting  in  revealing  the  thin  skin,  raw  flesh, 


76  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

wounds  never  healed  over,  and  some  jaggedly 
open,  almost  everyv^here  one  goes.  Jesus'  con- 
tinual references  reveal  hov^  strikingly  alike  is  the 
oriental  and  the  occidental;  the  first  and  the 
twentieth  centuries. 

Run  through  Matthew  alone  a  moment.  Here 
in  the  fifth  chapter:^  "If  thou  are  coming  to 
the  altar" — that  is  approaching  God;  what  we 
call  prayer — "and  rememberest  that  thy  brother 
hath  aught  against  thee  " — that  side  of  it — "  leave 
there  thy  gift  and  go  thy  way,  first  be  recon- 
ciled," and  so  on.  Here  comes  a  man  with  a 
lamb  to  offer.  He  approaches  solemnly,  rever- 
ently, towards  the  altar  of  God.  But  as  he  is 
coming  there  flashes  across  his  mind  the  face  of 
that  man,  with  whom  he  has  had  difficulty. 
And  instantly  he  can  feel  his  grip  tightening  on 
the  offering,  and  his  teeth  shutting  closer  at  the 
quick  memory.  Jesus  says,  "If  that  be  so  lay 
your  lamb  right  down."  What!  go  abruptly 
away!  Why!  how  the  folks  around  the  temple 
will  talk!  "  Lay  the  lamb  right  down,  and  go 
thy  way."  The  shortest  way  to  God  for  that 
man  is  not  the  way  to  the  altar,  but  around  by 
that  man's  house.  "  First,  be  reconciled  " — keep 
your  perspective  straight — follow  the  right  order 
— '  *  first  be  reconciled  " — not  second;  ' '  then  come 
and  offer  thy  gift." 

In  the  sixth  chapter'  He  gives  the  form  of  prayef 
which  we  commonly  call  the  Lord's  prayer.     It 

>  Matthew  5  :  23,  24.  »  Matthew  6  : 9-15. 


Why  the  Results  Fail  77 

contains  seven  petitions.  At  the  close  He  stops 
to  emphasize  just  one  of  the  seven.  You  re- 
member which  one  ;  the  one  about  forgiveness. 
In  the  eighteenth  chapter^  Jesus  is  talking  alone 
with  the  disciples  about  prayer.  Peter  seems  to 
remember  the  previous  remarks  about  forgiveness 
in  connection  with  prayer;  and  he  asks  a  ques- 
tion. It  is  never  difficult  to  think  of  Peter  asking 
a  question  or  making  a  few  remarks.  He  says, 
** Master,  how  many  times  must  I  forgive  a  man? 
Seven  times! "  Apparently  Peter  thinks  he  is  grow- 
ing in  grace.  He  can  actually  think  now  of  for- 
giving a  man  seven  times  in  succession.  But 
the  Master  in  effect  says,  "Peter,  you  haven't 
caught  the  idea.  Forgiveness  is  not  a  question  of 
mathematics;  not  a  m^iXXtx  oi  keeping  tab  on  some- 
body: not  seven  times  but  seventy  times  seven,'* 
And  Peter's  eyes  bulge  open  with  an  incredulous 
stare — **  four  hundred  and  ninety  times!  .  .  . 
one  man— straightway ! ! "  Apparently  the  Master 
is  thinking,  that  he  will  lose  count,  or  get  tired 
of  counting  and  conclude  that  forgiveness  is  pref- 
erable, or  else  by  practice  breathe  in  the  spirit 
of  forgiveness — the  thing  He  meant. 

Then  as  He  was  so  fond  of  doing  Jesus  told  a 
story  to  illustrate  His  meaning.  A  man  owed 
his  lord  a  great  debt,  twelve  millions  of  dollars  ; 
that  is  to  say  practically  an  unpayable  amount. 
By  comparison  with  money  to-day,  in  the  west- 
ern world,  it  would  be  about  twelve  billions.    And 

1  Matthew  i8:  19-35. 


78  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

he  went  to  him  and  asked  for  time.  He  said :  ' '  I'm 
short  just  now  ;  but  I  mean  to  pay  ;  I  don't  mean 
to  shirk  :  be  easy  with  me  ;  and  I'll  pay  up  the 
whole  sum  in  time."  And  his  lord  generously 
forgave  him  the  whole  debt.  That  is  Jesus'  pic- 
ture of  God,  as  He  knows  Him  who  knows  Him 
best.  Then  this  forgiven  man  went  out  and 
found  a  fellow  servant  who  owed  him— how 
much  do  you  think?  Have  you  ever  thought 
that  Jesus  had  a  keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous? 
Surely  it  shows  here.  He  owed  him  about  six- 
teen dollars  and  a-quarter  or  a-half !  And  you 
can  almost  feel  the  clutch  of  this  fellow's  fingers 
on  the  other's  throat  as  he  sternly  demands  : — 
"Pay  me  that  thou  owest."  And  his  fellow 
earnestly  replies,  "Please  be  easy  with  me  ;  I 
mean  to  pay;  I'm  rather  short  just  now:  but  I'm 
not  trying  to  shirk;  be  easy  with  me."  Is  it  pos- 
sible the  words  do  not  sound  familiar!  But  he 
would  not,  but  put  him  in  the  jail.  The  last 
place  to  pay  a  debt!  That  is  Jesus'  picture  of 
man  as  He  knows  him  who  knows  him  best. 
And  in  effect  He  says  what  we  have  been  for- 
given by  God  is  as  an  unpayable  amount.  And 
what  are  not  willing  to  forgive  is  like  sixteen  dol- 
lars and  a  fraction  by  contrast.  What  little  puny 
folks  some  of  us  are  in  our  thinking  and  feeling! 
"Oh,  well,"  some  one  says,  " you  do  not  know 
how  hard  it  is  to  forgive."  You  think  not?  I 
know  this  much: — that  some  persons,  and  some 
things  you  cannot  forgive  of  yourself.     But  I  am 


Why  the  Results  Fail  79 

glad  to  say  that  I  know  this  too  that  if  one  allows 
the  Spirit  of  Jesus  to  sway  the  heart  He  will  make 
you  love  persons  you  cannot  like.  No  natural  af- 
finity or  drawing  together  through  disposition,  but 
a  real  yearning  love  in  the  heart.  Jesus'  love, 
when  allowed  to  come  in  as  freely  as  He  means, 
fills  your  heart  with  pity  for  the  man  who  has 
wounded  you.  An  infinite,  tender  pity  that  he 
has  sunk  so  low  as  to  be  capable  of  such  actions. 

But  the  fact  to  put  down  in  the  sharpest  con- 
trast of  white  and  black  is  that  we  must  forgive 
freely,  frankly,  generously,  ''even  as  God,"  if 
we  are  to  be  in  prayer  touch  with  God. 

And  the  reason  is  not  far  to  find;  a  double 
reason,  Godward  and  Satanward.  If  prayer  be 
partnership  in  the  highest  sense  then  the  same 
spirit  must  animate  both  partners,  the  human 
and  the  divine,  if  the  largest  results  are  to  come. 
And  since  unforgiveness  roots  itself  down  in 
hate  Satan  has  room  for  both  feet  in  such  a  heart 
with  all  the  leeway  in  action  of  such  purchase. 
That  word  unforgiving/  What  a  group  of  rel- 
atives it  has,  near  and  far!  Jealousy,  envy,  bit- 
terness, the  cutting  word,  the  polished  shaft  of 
sarcasm  with  the  poisoned  tip,  the  green  eye,  the 
acid  saliva — what  kinsfolk  these! 

Search  Me. 


Sin,  selfishness,  an  unforgiving  spirit — what 
searchlights  these  words  are !  Many  a  splendid  life 
to-day  is  an  utter  cipher  in  the  spirit  atmosphere 


8o  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

because  of  some  such  hindrance.  And  God's  great 
love-plan  for  His  prodigal  world  is  being  held 
back;  and  lives  being  lost  even  where  ultimately 
souls  shall  be  saved  because  of  the  lack  of  human 
prayer  partners. 

May  we  not  well  pray: — Search  me,  oh  God, 
and  know  my  heart  and  help  me  know  it; 
try  me  and  know  my  innermost,  undermost 
thoughts  and  purposes  and  ambitions,  and  help 
me  know  them;  and  see  what  way  there  be  in 
me  that  is  a  grief  to  Thee;  and  then  lead  me— 
and  here  the  prayer  may  be  a  purpose  as  well  as 
a  prayer — lead  me  out  of  that  way  unto  Thy 
way,  the  way  everlasting.  For  Jesus'  sake;  aye 
for  men's  sake,  too. 


why  the  Results  are  Delayed 


God's  Pathway  to  Human  Hearts. 

God  touches  men  through  men.  The  Spirit's 
path  to  a  human  heart  is  through  another  human 
heart.  With  reverence  be  it  said,  yet  with  blunt 
plainness  that  in  His  plan  for  winning  men  to  their 
true  allegiance  God  is  limited  by  the  human  limi- 
tations. That  may  seem  to  mean  more  than  it 
really  does.  For  our  thought  of  the  human  is  of 
the  scarred,  warped,  shrivelled  humanity  that 
we  know,  and  great  changes  come  when  God's 
Spirit  controls.  But  the  fact  is  there,  however 
limited  our  understanding  of  it. 

God  needs  man  for  His  plan.  That  is  the  fact 
that  stands  out  strong  in  thinking  about  prayer. 
God's  greatest  agency;  man's  greatest  agency, 
for  defeating  the  enemy  and  winning  men  back 
is  intercession.  God  is  counting  mightily  upon 
that.  And  He  can  count  most  mightily  upon  the 
man  that  faithfully  practices  that. 
^The  results  He  longs  for  are  being  held  back, 
and  made  smaller  because  so  many  of  us  have 
not  learned  how  to  pray  simply  and  skilfully. 
We  need  training.  And  God  understands  that. 
He  Himself  will  train.  But  we  must  be  willing; 
8i 


82  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

actively  willing.  And  just  there  the  great  bother 
comes  in.  A  strong  will  perfectly  yielded  to 
God's  will,  or  perfectly  willing  to  be  yielded,  is 
His  mightiest  ally  in  redeeming  the  world. 

Answers  to  prayer  are  delayed,  or  denied,  out 
I  of  kindness,  or,  that  more  may  be  given,  or,  that 
a  far  larger  purpose  may  be  served.  But  deeper 
down  by  far  than  that  is  this  :  God' s  purposes 
are  being  delayed;  delayed  because  of  our  un- 
willingness to  learn  how  to  pray,  or,  our  slow- 
ness— I  almost  said — our  stupidity  in  learning.  It 
is  a  small  matter  that  my  prayer  be  answered,  or 
unanswered;  not  small  to  me;  everything  perhaps 
to  me;  but  small  in  proportion.  It  is  a  tremen- 
dous thing  that  God's  purpose  for  a  world  is  being 
held  back  through  my  lack.  The  thought  that 
prayer  is  getting  things  from  God ;  chiefly  that,  is 
so  small,  pitiably  small,  and  yet  so  common.  The 
true  conception  understands  that  prayer  is  part- 
nership with  God  in  His  planet-sized  purposes, 
and  includes  the  *' all  things"  beside,  as  an  im- 
portant detail  of  the  whole. 

The  real  reason  for  the  delay  or  failure  lies 
simply  in  the  difference  between  God's  view- 
point and  ours.  In  our  asking  either  we  have  not 
reached  the  wisdom  that  asks  best,  or,  we  have 
not  reached  the  unselfishness  that  is  willing  to 
sacrifice  a  good  thing,  for  a  better,  or  the  best; 
the  unselfishness  that  is  willing  to  sacrifice  the 
smaller  personal  desire  for  the  larger  thing  that 
affects  the  lives  of  many. 


Why  the  Results  are  Delayed       83 

We  learn  best  by  pictures,  and  by  stories  which 
are  pen  or  word  pictures.  This  was  Jesus'  fa- 
vourite method  of  teaching.  There  are  in  the  Bible 
four  great,  striking  instances  of  delayed,  or  qual- 
ified answers  to  prayer.  There  are  some  others; 
but  these  stand  out  sharply,  and  perhaps  include 
the  main  teachings  of  all.  Probably  all  the  in- 
stances of  hindered  prayer  with  which  we  are 
familiar  will  come  under  one  of  these.  That  is  to 
say,  where  there  are  good  connections  upward  as 
suggested  in  our  last  talk,  and,  excepting  those 
that  come  under  the  talk  succeeding  this,  namely, 
the  great  outside  hindrance.  These  four  are  Moses' 
request  to  enterCanaan ;  Hannah's  prayer  forason ; 
Paul's  thorn;  and  Jesus'  prayer  in  Gethsemane. 

Let  us  look  a  bit  at  these  in  turn. 

For  the  Sake  of  a  Nation. 

First  is  the  incident  of  Moses'  ungranted  peti- 
tion. Moses  was  the  leader  of  his  people.  He 
is  one  of  the  giants  of  the  human  race  from  what- 
ever standpoint  considered.  His  codes  are  the 
basis  of  all  English  and  American  jurisprudence. 
From  his  own  account  of  his  career,  the  secret 
of  all  his  power  as  a  maker  of  laws,  the  organ- 
izer of  a  strangely  marvellous  nation,  a  military 
general  and  strategist — the  secret  of  all  was  in 
his  direct  communication  with  God.  He  was 
peculiarly  a  man  of  prayer.  Everything  was  re- 
ferred to  God,  and  he  declared  that  everything — 
laws,   organization,    worship,    plans — came   to 


84  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

him  from  God.  In  national  emergencies  where 
moral  catastrophe  was  threatened  he  petitioned 
God  and  the  plans  were  changed  in  accordance 
with  his  request.  He  makes  personal  requests 
and  they  are  granted.  He  was  peculiarly  a  man 
who  dealt  directly  with  God  about  every  sort  of 
thing,  national  and  personal,  simple  and  com- 
plex. The  record  commonly  credited  to  him 
puts  prayer  as  the  simple  profound  explanation 
of  his  stupendous  career  and  achievements.  He 
prayed.  God  worked  along  the  line  of  his 
prayer.  The  great  things  recorded  are  the  result. 
That  is  the  simple  inferential  summary. 

Now  there  is  one  exception  to  all  this  in  Moses' 
life.  It  stands  out  the  more  strikingly  that  it  is 
an  exception;  the  one  exception  of  a  very  long 
line.  Moses  asked  repeatedly  for  one  thing.  It 
was  not  given  him.  God  is  not  capricious  nor 
arbitrary.  There  must  be  a  reason.  There  is. 
And  it  is  fairly  luminous  with  light. 

Here  are  the  facts.  These  freed  men  of  Egypt 
are  a  hard  lot  to  lead  and  to  live  with.  Slow, 
sensuous,  petty,  ignorant,  narrow,  impulsive, 
strangers  to  self-control,  critical,  exasperating — 
what  an  undertaking  God  had  to  make  a  nation, 
the  nation  of  history,  about  which  centred  His 
deep  reaching,  far-seeing  love  ambition  for  re- 
deeming a  world  out  of  such  stuff  I  Only  par- 
alleled by  the  church  being  built  upon  such  men 
as  these  Galilean  peasants!  What  victories  these  I 
What  a  God  to  do  such  things!    Only  a  God 


Why  the  Results  are  Delayed       85 

could  do  either  and  both!  What  immense  pa- 
tience it  required  to  shape  this  people.  What 
patience  God  has.  Moses  had  learned  much  of 
patience  in  the  desert  sands  with  his  sheep;  for 
he  had  learned  much  of  God.  But  the  finishing 
touches  were  supplied  by  the  grindstone  of  fric- 
tion with  the  fickle  temper  of  this  mob  of  ex- 
slaves. 

Here  are  the  immediate  circumstances.  They 
lacked  water.  They  grew  very  thirsty.  It  was 
a  serious  matter  in  those  desert  sands  with 
human  lives,  and.young  children,  and  the  stock. 
No,  it  was  not  serious:  really  a  very  small  mat- 
ter, for  God  was  along,  and  the  enterprise  was  of 
His  starting.  It  was  His  affair,  all  this  strange 
journey.  And  they  knew  Him  quite  well  enough 
in  their  brief  experience  to  be  expecting  some- 
thing fully  equal  to  all  needs  with  a  margin  thrown 
in.  There  was  that  series  of  stupendous  things 
before  leaving  Egypt.  There  was  the  Red  Sea, 
and  fresh  food  daily  delivered  at  every  man's 
tent  door,  and  game,  juicy  birds,  brought  down 
within  arms'  reach,  yes,  and — surely  this  alone 
were  enough — there  was  living,  cool  water  gush- 
ing abundantly,  gladly  out  of  the  very  heart  of  a 
flinty  rock — if  such  a  thing  can  be  said  to  have  a 
heart!  Oh,  yes  it  was  a  very  small  matter  to  be 
lacking  anything  with  such  a  lavish  God  along. 

But  they  forgot.  Their  noses  were  keener  than 
their  memories.  They  had  better  stomachs  than 
hearts.    The  odorous  onions  of  Egypt  made  more 


86  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

lasting  impressions  than  this  tender,  patient, 
planning  God.  Yet  here  even  their  stomachs 
forgot  those  rock-freed  waters.  These  people 
must  be  kinsfolk  of  ours.  They  seem  to  have 
some  of  the  same  family  traits. 

Listen:  they  begin  to  complain,  to  criticise. 
God  patiently  says  nothing  but  provides  for  their 
needs.  But  Moses  has  not  yet  reached  the  high 
level  that  later  experiences  brought  him.  He  is 
standing  to  them  for  God.  Yet  he  is  very  un- 
Godlike.  Angrily,  with  hot  word,  he  smites  the 
rock.  Once  smiting  was  God's  plan;  then  the 
quiet  word  ever  after.  How  many  a  time  has 
the  once  smitten  Rock  been  smitten  again  in 
our  impatience!  The  waters  camel  Just  like 
God!  They  were  cared  for,  though  He  had  been 
disobeyed  and  dishonoured.  And  there  are  the 
crowds  eagerly  drinking  with  faces  down;  and 
up  yonder  in  the  shadow  standeth  God  grieved, 
deeply  grieved  at  the  false  picture  this  immature 
people  had  gotten  of  Him  that  day  through 
Moses.  Moses'  hot  tongue  and  flashing  eye 
made  a  deep  moral  scar  upon  their  minds,  that  it 
would  take  years  to  remove.  Something  must 
be  done  for  the  people's  sake.  Moses  disobeyed 
God.  He  dishonoured  God.  Yet  the  waters 
came,  for  they  yieeded  water.  And  God  is  ever 
tender-hearted.  But  they  must  be  taught  the 
need  of  obedience,  the  evil  of  disobedience. 
Taught  it  so  they  never  could  forget. 

Moses  was  a  leader.     Leaders  may  not  do  as 


Why  the  Results  are  Delayed       87 

common  men.  And  leaders  may  not  be  dealt 
with  as  followers.  They  stand  too  high  in  the 
air.  They  affect  too  many  lives.  So  God  said 
to  Moses: — "You  will  not  go  into  Canaan. 
You  may  lead  them  clear  up  to  the  line;  you 
may  even  see  over,  but  you  may  not  go  in." 
That  hurt  Moses  deep  down.  It  hurt  God 
deeper  down,  in  a  heart  more  sensitive  to 
hurt  than  was  Moses'.  Without  doubt  it  was 
said  with  reluctance,  for  Moses'  sake.  But  // 
was  said,  plainly,  irrevocably,  for  their  sakes. 
Moses'  petition  was  for  a  reversal  of  this  de- 
cision. Once  and  again  he  asked.  He  wanted 
to  see  that  wondrous  land  of  God's  choos- 
ing. He  felt  the  sting  too.  The  edge  of  the 
knife  of  discipline  cut  keenly,  and  the  blood 
spurted.  But  God  said: — "Do  not  speak  to 
Me  again  of  this."  The  decision  was  not  to 
be  changed.  For  Moses'  sake  only  He  would 
gladly  have  changed,  judging  by  His  pre- 
vious conduct.  For  the  sake  of  the  nation — , 
aye,  for  the  sake  of  the  prodigal  world  to  be 
won  back  through  this  nation,  the  petition  might 
not  be  granted.  That  ungranted  petition  taught 
those  millions  the  lesson  of  obedience,  of  rever- 
ence, as  no  command,  or  smoking  mount,  or 
drowning  Egyptians  had  done.  It  became  com- 
mon talk  in  every  tent,  by  every  camp-fire  of  the 
tented  nation.  "Moses  disobeyed,— he  failed 
to  reverence  God; — he  cannot  enter  Canaan." — 
With  hushed  tones,  and  awed  hearts  and  moved, 


88  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

strangely  moved  faces  it  passed  from  lip  to  lip. 
Some  of  the  women  and  children  wept.  They 
all  loved  Moses.  They  revered  him.  How 
gladly  they  would  have  had  him  go  over.  The 
double-sided  truth — obedience — disobedience — 
kept  burning  in  through  the  years. 

In  after  years  many  a  Hebrew  mother  told  her 
baby,  eager  for  a  story,  of  Moses  their  great 
leader;  his  appearance,  deep-set  eyes,  long  beard, 
majestic  mien,  yet  infinite  tenderness  and  gentle- 
ness, the  softness  of  strength;  his  presence  with 
God  in  the  mount,  the  shining  face.  And  the 
baby  would  listen  so  quietly,  and  then  the 
eyes  would  grow  so  big  and  the  hush  of  spirit 
come  as  the  mother  would  repeat  softly,  *'but 
he  could  not  come  over  into  the  land  of  promise 
because  he  did  not  obey  God.'*  And  strong 
fathers  reminded  their  growing  sons.  And  so  it 
was  woven  into  the  warp  and  woof  of  the  na- 
tion— obedience,  reverent  obedience  to  God,  And 
one  can  well  understand  Moses  looking  down 
from  above  with  grateful  heart  that  he  had  been 
denied  for  their  sakes.  The  unselfishness  ^and 
wisdom  of  later  years  would  not  have  made  the 
prayer.  The  prayer  of  a  man  was  denied  that  a 
nation  might  be  taught  obedience. 

That  More  Might  be  Given  and  Gotten. 

Now  let  us  look  a  bit  at  the  second  of  these, 
the  portrait  of  Hannah  the  Hebrew  woman. 
First   the  broader  lines   for  perspective.     This 


Why  the  Results  are  Delayed       89 

peculiar  Hebrew  nation  had  two  deep  dips  down 
morally  between  Egypt  and  Babylon;  between 
the  first  making,  and  the  final  breaking.  The 
national  tide  ebbed  very  low  twice,  before  it 
finally  ran  out  in  the  Euphrates  Valley.  Elijah 
stemmed  the  tide  the  second  time,  and  saved  the 
day  for  a  later  night.  The  Hannah  story  belongs 
in  the  first  of  these  ebb-tides;  the  first  bad  sag; 
the  first  deep  gap. 

The  giant  lawgiver  is  long  gone.  His  suc- 
cessor, only  a  less  giant  than  himself  is  gone 
too,  and  all  that  generation,  and  more.  The 
giants  gave  way  to  smaller-sized  leaders.  Now 
they  are  gone  also.  The  mountain  peaks  have 
been  lost  in  the  foothills,  and  these  have  yielded 
to  dunes,  and  levels;  mostly  levels;  dead  levels. 
These  mountains  must  have  had  long  legs.  The 
foothills  are  so  far  away,  and  are  running  all  to 
toes.    Now  the  toes  have  disappeared. 

It  is  a  leaderless  people,  for  the  true  Leader  as 
originally  planned  has  been,  first  ignored,  then 
forgot.  The  people  have  no  ideals.  They  grub 
in  the  earth  content.  There  is  a  deep,  hidden- 
away  current  of  good.  But  it  needs  leadership 
to  bring  it  to  the  surface.  A  leaderless  people! 
This  is  the  niche  of  the  Hannah  story. 

The  nation  was  rapidly  drifting  down  to  the 
moral  level  of  the  lowest.  At  Shiloh  the  formal 
worship  was  kept  up,  but  the  very  priests  were 
tainted  with  the  worst  impurity.  A  sort  of 
sleepy,  slovenly  anarchy  prevailed.     Every  man 


go  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes,  with 
every  indication  of  a  gutter  standard.  ''There 
was  none  in  the  land  possessing  power  of  re- 
straint that  might  put  them  to  shame  in  any- 
thing." No  government;  no  dominant  spirit. 
Indeed  the  actual  conditions  of  Sodom  and  her 
sister  cities  of  the  plain  existed  among  the  people. 
This  is  the  setting  of  the  simple  graphic  incident 
of  Hannah.  One  must  get  the  picture  clearly  in 
mind  to  understand  the  story. 

Up  in  the  hill  country  of  Ephraim  there  lived  a 
wise-hearted  religious  man,  a  farmer,  raising 
stock,  and  grain;  and  fruit,  too,  likely.  He 
was  earnest  but  not  of  the  sort  to  rise  above  the 
habit  of  his  time.  His  farm  was  not  far  from 
Shiloh,  the  national  place  of  worship,  and  he 
made  yearly  trips  there  with  the  family.  But 
the  woman-degrading  curse  of  Lamech  was  over 
his  home.  He  had  two  wives.  Hannah  was 
the  loved  one.  (No  man  ever  yet  gave  his  heart 
to  two  women.)  She  was  a  gentle-spoken, 
thoughtful  woman,  with  a  deep,  earnest  spirit. 
But  she  had  a  disappointment  which  grew  in  in- 
tensity as  it  continued.  The  desire  of  her  heart 
had  been  withheld.     She  was  childless. 

Though  the  thing  is  not  mentioned  the  whole 
inference  is  that  she  prayed  earnestly  and  per- 
sistently but  to  her  surprise  and  deep  disap- 
pointment the  desired  answer  came  not.  To 
make  it  worse  her  rival — what  a  word,  for 
the  other  one  in  the  home  with  her— her  rival 


Why  the  Results  are  Delayed       91 

provoked  her  sore  to  make  her  fret.  And 
that  thing  went  on  year  after  year.  That  teasing, 
nagging,  picking  of  a  small  nature  was  her  con- 
stant prod.  What  an  atmosphere  for  a  home! 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  ''she  was  in  bitterness  of 
soul "  and  ' *  wept  sore  "  ?  Her  husband  tenderly 
tries  to  comfort  her.  But  her  inner  spirit  remains 
chafed  to  the  quick.  And  all  this  goes  on  for 
years;  the  yearning,  the  praying,  the  failure  of 
answer,  the  biting,  bitter  atmosphere, — iox years. 
And  she  wonders  why. 

Why  was  it  ?  Step  back  and  up  a  bit  and  get 
the  broader  view  which  the  narrow  limits  of  her 
surroundings,  and  shall  I  say,  too,  though  not 
critically,  of  her  spirit,  shut  out  from  her  eyes. 
Here  is  what  she  saw:  her  fondest  hope  unreal- 
ized, long  praying  unanswered,  a  constant  fer- 
ment at  home.  Here  is  what  she  wanted : — a  son. 
That  is  her  horizon.  Beyond  that  her  thought 
does  not  rise. 

Here  is  what  God  saw: — a  nation— no,  much 
worse— M^  nation,  in  which  centred  His  great 
love-plan  for  winning  His  prodigal  world,  going 
to  pieces.  The  messenger  to  the  prodigal  was 
being  slyly,  subtly  seduced  by  the  prodigal. 
The  saviour-nation  was  being  itself  lost.  The 
plan  so  long  and  patiently  fostered  for  saving  a 
world  was  threatened  with  utter  disaster. 

Here  is  what  He  wanted — a  leader!  But  there 
were  no  leaders.  And,  worse  yet,  there  were  no 
men  out  of  whom  leaders  might  be  made,  no 


92  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

men  of  leader-size.  And  worse  yet  there  were  no 
women  of  the  sort  to  train  and  shape  a  man  for 
leadership.  That  is  the  lowest  level  to  which  a 
people  ever  gets,  aye,  ever  can  get.  God  had  to 
get  a  woman  before  He  could  get  a  man.  Han- 
nah had  in  her  the  making  of  the  woman  He 
needed.  God  honoured  her  by  choosing  her.  But 
she  must  be  changed  before  she  could  be  used. 
And  so  there  came  those  years  of  pruning,  and 
sifting,  and  discipline.  Shall  we  spell  that  word 
discipline  with,  a  final  g  instead  of  e— discipling, 
so  the  love  of  it  may  be  plainer  to  our  near- 
sightedness ?  And  out  of  those  years  and  expe- 
riences there  came  a  new  woman.  A  woman 
with  vision  broadened,  with  spirit  mellowed, 
with  strength  seasoned,  with  will  so  sinewy 
supple  as  to  yield  to  a  higher  will,  to  sacrifice  the 
dearest  personal  pleasure  for  the  world-wide 
purpose;  willing  that  he  who  was  her  dearest 
treasure  should  be  the  nation's  first. 

Then  followed  months  of  prayer  while  the 
man  was  coming.  Samuel  was  born,  no,  farther 
back  yet,  was  conceived  in  the  atmosphere  of 
prayer  and  devotion  to  God.  The  prenatal  in- 
fluences for  those  months  gave  the  sort  of  man 
God  wanted.  And  a  nation,  the  nation,  the  world- 
plan,  was  saved!  This  man  became  a  living 
answer  to  prayer.  The  romantic  story  of  the 
little  boy  up  in  the  Shiloh  tabernacle  quickly 
spread  over  the  nation.  His  very  name — Samuel, 
God  hears — sifted  into  people's  ears  the  facts  of  a 


Why  the  Results  are  Delayed       93 

God,  and  of  the  power  of  prayer.  The  very 
sight  of  the  boy  and  of  the  man  dear  to  the  end 
kept  deepening  the  brain  impression  through 
eyeballs  that  God  answers  prayer.  And  the 
seeds  of  that  re-belief  in  God  that  Samuel's  lead- 
ership brought  about  were  sown  by  the  unusual 
story  of  his  birth. 

The  answer  was  delayed  that  more  might  be 
given  and  gotten.  And  Hannah's  exultant  song 
of  praise  reveals  the  fineness  to  which  the  texture 
of  her  nature  had  been  spun.  And  it  tells  too 
how  grateful  she  was  for  a  God  who  in  great 
patience  and  of  strong  deliberate  purpose  delayed 
the  answer  to  her  prayer. 

The  Best  Light  for  Studying  a  Thorn. 

The  third  great  picture  in  this  group  is  that  of 
Paul  and  his  needle-pointed  thorn.  Talks  about 
the  certainty  of  prayer  being  answered  are  very 
apt  to  bring  this  question  :  ''What  about  Paul's 
thorn  ? "  Sometimes  asked  by  earnest  hearts 
puzzled;  some\\mes  with  a  look  in  the  eye  almost 
exultant  as  though  of  gladness  for  that  thorn 
because  it  seems  to  help  out  a  theory.  These 
pictures  are  put  into  the  gallery  for  our  help.  Let 
us  pull  up  our  chairs  in  front  of  this  one  and 
see  what  points  we  may  get  to  help  our 
hearts. 

First  a  look  at  Paul  himself.  The  best  light  on 
this  thorn  is  through  the  man.  The  man  explains 
the  thorn.     We  have  a  halo  about  Paul's  head; 


94  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

and  rightly,  too.  What  a  splendid  man  of  God  he 
was!  God's  chosen  one  for  a  peculiar  ministry. 
One  of  the  twelve  could  be  used  to  open  the 
door  to  the  great  outside  world,  but  God  had  to 
go  aside  from  this  circle  and  get  a  man  of  dif- 
ferent training  for  this  wider  sphere.  Cradled 
and  schooled  in  a  Jewish  atmosphere,  he  never 
lost  the  Jew  standpoint,  yet  the  training  of  his 
home  surroundings  in  that  outside  world,  the 
contact  with  Greek  culture,  his  natural  mental 
cast  fitted  him  peculiarly  for  his  appointed  task 
to  the  great  outside  majority.  His  keen  reason- 
ing powers,  his  vivid  imagination,  his  steel-like 
will,  his  burning  devotion,  his  unmovable  pur- 
pose, his  tender  attachment  to  his  Lord,— what  a 
man!  Well  might  the  Master  want  to  win  such 
a  man  for  service'  sake.  But  Paul  had  some 
weak  traits.  Let  us  say  it  very  softly,  remember- 
ing as  we  instinctively  will,  that  where  we  think 
of  one  in  him  there  come  crowding  to  memory's 
door  many  more  in  one's  self.  A  man's  weak 
point  is  usually  the  extreme  opposite  swing  of 
the  pendulum  on  his  strong  point.  Paul  had  a 
tremendous  will.  He  was  a  giant,  a  Hercules  in 
his  will.  Those  tireless  journeys  with  their 
terrific  experiences,  all  spell  out  will  large  and 
black.  But,  gently  now,  he  went  to  extremes 
here.  Was  it  due  to  his  overtired  nerves  ? 
Likely  enough.  He  was  obstinate,  sometimes; 
stubborn;  set  in  his  way:  sometimes  head  down, 
jaw  locked,  driving  hard.    Say  it  all  softly,  for  we 


Why  the  Results  are  Delayed       95 

are  speaking  of  dear  old  saintly  Paul;  but,  to 
help,  say  it,  for  it  is  true. 

God  had  a  hard  time  holding  Paul  to  His  plans. 
Paul  had  some  of  his  own.  We  can  all  easily 
understand  that.  Take  a  side  glance  or  two  as 
he  is  pushing  eagerly,  splendidly  on.  Turn  to 
that  sixteenth  chapter  of  Acts,^  and  listen: 
*'  Having  been  forbidden  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
speak  the  word  in  (the  province  of)  Asia," 
coupled  with  the  fact  of  sickness  being  allowed 
to  overtake  him  in  Galatia  where  the  **  for- 
bidding" message  came.  And  again  this,  "they 
assayed  to  go  into  Bithynia;  and  the  Spirit  of 
jesus  suffered  them  not."^  Tell  me,  is  this  the 
way  the  Spirit  of  God  leads  ?  That  I  should  go 
driving  ahead  until  He  must  pull  me  up  with  a 
sharp  turn,  and  twist  me  around!  It  is  the  way 
He  is  obliged  to  do  many  times,  no  doubt,  with 
most  of  us.  But  His  chosen  way  ?  His  own 
way?  Surely  not.  Rather  this,  the  keeping 
close,  and  quiet  and  listening  for  the  next  step. 
Rather  the  "I  go  not  up  yet  unto  this  feast"  of 
Jesus.'  And  then  in  a  few  days  going  up, 
evidently  when  the  clear  intimation  came.  These 
words,  "assayed  to  go,"  "forbidden,"  "suffered 
not " — what  flashlights  they  let  into  this  strong 
man's  character. 

But  there  is  much  stronger  evidence  yet.  Paul 
had  an  ambition  to  preach  to  the  Jerusalem  Jews, 

*  Acts  16:6.  «  Acts  16 :  7. 

8  John  7  :  8. 


96  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

It  burned  in  his  bones  from  the  early  hours  of 
his  new  life.  The  substratum  of  ''Jerusalem" 
seemed  ever  in  his  thoughts  and  dreams.  If  he 
could  just  get  to  those  Jerusalem  Jews!  He 
knew  them.  He  had  trained  with  them.  He  was 
a  leader  among  the  younger  set.  When  they 
burned  against  these  Christians  he  burned  just  a 
bit  hotter.  They  knew  him.  They  trusted  him 
to  drive  the  opposite  wedge.  If  only  he  could 
have  a  chance  down  there  he  felt  that  the  tide 
might  be  turned.  But  from  that  critical  hour  on 
the  Damascene  road  ''  Gentiles— Gentiles"  had 
been  sounded  in  his  ears.  And  he  obeyed,  of 
course  he  obeyed,  with  all  his  ardent  heart.  But, 
but— those  Jerusalem  Jews  !  If  he  might  go  to 
Jerusalem !  Yet  very  early  the  Master  had  pro- 
scribed the  Jerusalem  service  for  Paul.  He  made 
it  a  matter  of  a  special  vision,'  in  the  holy  temple, 
kindly  explaining  why.  "  They  will  not  receive  of 
thee  testimony  concerning  Me."  Would  that  not 
seem  quite  sufficient  ?  Surely.  Yet  this  as- 
tonishing thing  occurs: — Paul  attempts  to  argue 
with  the  Master  why  he  should  be  allowed  to  go. 
This  is  going  to  great  lengths;  a  subordinate 
arguing  with  his  commanding  general  after  the 
orders  have  been  issued!  The  Master  closes  the 
vision  with  a  peremptory  word  of  command, 
''depart.  I  will  send  thee  far  hence  (from 
Jerusalem,  where  you  long  to  be),  to  the 
Gentiles."     That   is  a   picture  of  this  man.     It 

'Acts  22:  17-21. 


Why  the  Results  are  Delayed       97 

reveals  the  weak  side  in  this  giant  of  strength 
and  of  love.  And  this  is  the  man  God  has  to  use 
in  His  plan.  He  is  without  doubt  the  best  man 
available.  And  in  his  splendour  he  stands  head 
and  shoulders  above  his  generation  and  many 
generations.  Yet  (with  much  reverence)  God 
has  a  hard  time  getting  Paul  to  work  always 
along  the  line  of  His  plans. 

That  is  the  man.  Now  for  the  thorn.  Some- 
thing came  into  Paul's  life  that  was  a  constant 
irritation.  He  calls  it  a  thorn.  What  a  graphic 
word!  A  sharp  point  prodding  into  his  flesh, 
ever  prodding,  sticking,  sticking  in;  asleep, 
awake,  stitching  tent  canvas,  preaching,  writing, 
that  thing  ever  cutting  its  point  into  his  sensitive 
flesh.  Ugh!  It  did  not  disturb  him  so  much  at 
first,  because  there  was  God  to  go  to.  He  went 
to  God  and  said,  '*  Please  take  this  away."  But 
it  stayed  and  stuck.  A  second  time  the  prayer;  a 
bit  more  urgent;  the  thing  sticks  so.  The  time 
test  is  the  hardest  test  of  all.  Still  no  change. 
Then  praying  the  third  time  with  what  earnest- 
ness one  can  well  imagine. 

Now  note  three  things:  First,  There  was  an 
answer.  God  answered  the  man.  Though  He 
did  not  grant  the  petition.  He  answered  the  man. 
He  did  not  ignore  him  nor  his  request.  Then 
God  told  Paul  frankly  that  it  was  not  best  to  take 
the  thorn  away.  It  was  in  the  lonely  vigil  of  a 
sleepless  night,  likely  as  not,  that  the  wondrous 
Jesus-Spirit    drew  near   to  Paul.     Inaudibly  to 


98  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer      . 

outer  ear  but  very  plainly  to  his  inner  ear,  He 
spoke  in  tones  modulated  into  tender  softness  as 
of  dearest  friend  talking  with  dear  friend.  **  Paul," 
the  voice  said,  "I  know  about  that  thorn — and 
how  it  hurts — it  hurts  Me,  too.  For  your  sake, 
I  would  quickly,  so  quickly  remove  it.  But— 
Paul" — and  the  voice  becomes  still  softer — "it  is 
a  bit  better  for  others'  sake  that  it  remain:  the 
plan  in  My  heart  through  you  for  thousands,  yes, 
unnumbered  thousands,  Paul,  can  so  best  be 
worked  out."  That  was  the  first  part  of  what 
He  said.  And  Paul  lies  thinking  with  a  deep 
tinge  of  awe  over  his  spirit.  Then  after  a  bit  in 
yet  quieter  voice  He  went  on  to  say,  "I  will  be 
so  close  to  your  side;  you  shall  have  such  revela- 
tions of  My  glory  that  the  pain  will  be  clear  over- 
lapped, Paul;  the  glory  shall  outstrip  the  eating 
thorn  point." 

I  can  see  old  Paul  one  night  in  his  own  hired 
house  in  Rome.  It  is  late,  after  a  busy  day;  the 
auditors  have  all  gone.  He  is  sitting  on  an  old 
bench,  slowing  down  before  seeking  sleep.  One 
arm  is  around  Luke,  dear  faithful  Doctor  Luke, 
and  the  other  around  young  Timothy,  not  quite 
so  young  now.  And  with  eyes  that  glisten,  and 
utterance  tremulous  with  emotion  he  is  just  say- 
ing:—"And  dear  old  friends,  do  you  know,  I 
would  not  have  missed  this  thorn,  for  the  won- 
drous glory  " — and  his  heart  gets  into  his  voice, 
there  is  a  touch  of  the  hoarseness  of  deep  emo- 
tion, and  a  quavering  of  tone,  so  he  waits  a  mo- 


Why  the  Results  are  Delayed       99 

ment — "the  wondrous  glory-presence  of  Jesus 
that  came  with  it." 

And  so  out  of  the  experience  came  a  double 
blessing.  There  was  a  much  fuller  working  of 
God's  plan  for  His  poor  befooled  world.  And 
there  was  an  unspeakable  nearness  of  intimacy 
with  his  Lord  for  Paul.  The  man  was  answered 
and  the  petition  denied  that  the  larger  plan  of 
service  might  he  carried  out. 

Shaping  a  Prayer  on  the  Anvil  of  the  Knees. 

The  last  of  these  pictures  is  like  Raphael's  Sis- 
tine  Madonna  in  the  Dresden  gallery;  it  is  in  a 
room  by  itself.  One  enters  with  a  holy  hush  over 
his  spirit,  and,  with  awe  in  his  eyes,  looks  at 
Jesus  in  Gethsemane.  There  is  the  Kidron  brook, 
the  gentle  rise  of  ground,  the  grove  of  gnarled 
knotty  old  olive  trees.  The  moon  above  is  at  the 
full.  Its  brightness  makes  these  shadowed  re- 
cesses the  darker;  blackly  dark.  Here  is  a  group 
of  men  lying  on  the  ground  apparently  asleep. 
Over  yonder  deeper  in  among  the  trees  a  smaller 
group  reclines  motionless.  They,  too,  sleep. 
And,  look,  farther  in  yet  is  that  lone  figure;  all 
alone;  never  more  alone;  save  once — on  the  mor- 
row. 

There  is  a  foreshadowing  of  this  Gethsemane 
experience  in  the  requested  interview  of  the 
Greeks  just  a  few  intense  days  before.  In  the 
vision  which  the  Greeks  unconsciously  brought 
the  agony  of  the  olive  grove  began.     The  climax 


lOO  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

is  among  these  moon-shadowed  trees.  How 
sympathetic  those  inky  black  shadows!  It  takes 
bright  light  to  make  black  shadows.  Yet  they 
were  not  black  enough.  Intense  men  can  get  so 
absorbed  in  the  shadows  as  to  forget  the  light. 

This  great  Jesus!  Son  of  God:  God  the  Son. 
The  Son  of  Man:  God— a  man!  No  draughts- 
man's pencil  ever  drew  the  line  between  His 
divinity  and  humanity;  nor  ever  shall.  For  the 
union  of  divine  and  human  is  itself  divine,  and 
therefore  clear  beyond  human  ken.  Here  His 
humanity  stands  out,  pathetically,  luminously 
stands  out.  Let  us  speak  of  it  very  softly  and 
think  with  the  touch  of  awe  deepening  for  this  is 
holiest  ground.  The  battle  of  the  morrow  is 
being  fought  out  here.  Calvary  is  in  Geth- 
semane.  The  victory  of  the  hill  is  won  in  the 
grove. 

It  is  sheer  impossible  for  man  with  sin  grained 
into  his  fibre  through  centuries  to  understand  the 
horror  with  which  a  sinless  one  thinks  of  actual 
contact  with  sin.  As  Jesus  enters  the  grove  that 
night  it  comes  in  upon  His  spirit  with  terrific  in- 
tensity that  He  is  actually  coming  into  contact — 
with  a  meaning  quite  beyond  us — coming  into 
contact  with  sin.  In  some  way  all  too  deep  for 
definition  He  is  to  be  "  made  sin."  *  The  language 
used  to  describe  His  emotions  is  so  strong  that  no 
adequate  English  words  seem  available  for  its  full 
expression.     An  indescribable  horror,  a  chill  of 

» 2  Cor.  5  :  21. 


Why  the  Results  are  Delayed     loi 

terror,  a  frenzy  of  fright  seizes  Him.  The  poi- 
sonous miasma  of  sin  seems  to  be  filling  His  nos- 
trils and  to  be  stifling  Him.  And  yonder  alone 
among  the  trees  the  agony  is  upon  Him.  The 
extreme  grips  Him.  May  there  not  yet  possibly 
be  some  other  way  rather  than  this— this!  A 
bit  of  that  prayer  comes  to  us  in  tones  strangely 
altered  by  deepest  emotion.  **  If  it  be  possible — 
let  this  cup  pass,"  There  is  still  a  clinging  to  a 
possibility,  some  possibility  other  than  that  of 
this  nightmare  vision.  The  writer  of  the  Hebrews 
lets  in  light  here.  The  strain  of  spirit  almost 
snaps  the  life-thread.  And  a  parenthetical  prayer 
for  strength  goes  up.  And  the  angels  come  with 
sympathetic  strengthening.  With  what  awe  must 
they  have  ministered!  Even  after  that  some  of 
the  red  life  slips  out  there  under  the  trees.  By 
and  by  a  calmer  mood  asserts  itself,  and  out  of 
the  darkness  a  second  petition  comes.  It  tells  of 
the  tide's  turning,  and  the  victory  full  and  com- 
plete. A  changed  petition  this!  **  Since  this  cup 
may  not  pass—sincQ  only  thus  can  Thy  great  plan 
for  a  world  be  wrought  out — Thy — will " — slowly 
but  very  distinctly  the  words  come—"  Thy—will 
— be — done." 

The  changed  prayer  was  wrought  out  upon  His 
knees  /  With  greatest  reverence,  and  a  hush  in 
our  voices,  let  us  say  that  there  alone  with 
the  Father  came  the  clearer  understanding  of 
the  Father's  actual  will  under  these  circum- 
stances. 


102  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

"  Into  the  woods  my  Master  went 
Clean  forspent,  forspent; 
Into  the  woods  my  Master  came 
Forspent  with  love  and  shame. 
But  the  olives  they  were  not  blind  to  Him, 
The  little  gray  leaves  were  kind  to  Him ; 
The  thorn-tree  had  a  mind  to  Him 
When  into  the  woods  He  came. 

"  Out  of  the  woods  my  Master  went 
And  He  was  well  content ; 
Out  of  the  woods  my  Master  came 
Content  with  death  and  shame. 
When  death  and  shame  would  woo  Him  last 
From  under  the  trees  they  drew  Him  last 
'Twas  on  a  tree  they  slew  Him — last 
When  out  of  the  woods  He  came."  * 

True  prayer  is  wrought  out  upon  the  knees 
alone  with  God.  With  deepest  reverence,  and  in 
awed  tones,  let  it  be  said,  that  that  was  true  of 
Jesus  in  the  days  of  His  humanity.  How  in- 
finitely more  of  us! 

Shall  we  not  plan  to  meet  God  alone,  habitu- 
ally, with  the  door  shut,  and  the  Book  open,  and 
the  will  pliant  so  we  may  be  trained  for  this  holy 
partnership  of  prayer.  Then  will  come  the 
clearer  vision,  the  broader  purpose,  the  truer  wis- 
dom, the  real  unselfishness,  the  simplicity  of 
claiming  and  expecting,  the  delights  of  fellow- 
ship in  service  with  Him;  then  too  will  come 

» Sidney  Lanier, 


Why  the  Results  are  Delayed      103 

great  victories  for  God  in  His  world.  Although 
we  shall  not  begin  to  know  by  direct  knowledge 
a  tithe  of  the  story  until  the  night  be  gone  and 
the  dawning  break  and  the  ink-black  shadows 
that  now  stain  the  earth  shall  be  chased  away  by 
the  brightness  of  His  presence. 


The  Great  Outside  Hindrance 


The  Traitor  Prince. 

There  remains  yet  a  word  to  be  said  about 
hindrances.  It  is  a  most  important  word;  indeed 
the  climactic  word.  What  has  been  said  is 
simply  clearing  the  way  for  what  is  yet  to  be 
said.  A  very  strange  phase  of  prayer  must  be 
considered  here.  Strange  only  because  not  fa- 
miliar. Yet  though  strange  it  contains  the  whole 
heart  of  the  question.  Here  lies  the  fight  of  the 
fight.  One  marvels  that  so  little  is  said  of  it. 
For  if  there  were  clear  understanding  here,  and 
then  faithful  practicing,  there  would  be  mightier 
defeats  and  victories:  defeats  for  the  foe;  victo- 
ries for  our  rightful  prince,  Jesus. 

The  intense  fact  is  this:  Satan  has  the  power 
to  hold  the  answer  back— for  awhile  ;  to  delay  the 
result— for  a  time.  He  has  not  the  power  to 
hold  it  back  finally,  if  some  one  understands  and 
prays  with  quiet,  steady  persistence.  The  real 
pitch  of  prayer  therefore  is  Satanward. 

Our  generation  has  pretty  much  left  this  indi- 
vidual Satan  out.  It  is  partly  excusable  perhaps. 
The  conceptions  of  Satan  and  his  hosts  and  sur- 
104 


The  Great  Outside  Hindrance      105 

roundings  made  classical  by  such  as  Dante  and 
Milton  and  Dore  have  done  much  to  befog  the 
air.  Almost  universally  they  have  been  taken 
literally  whether  so  meant  or  not.  One  familiar 
with  Satan's  characteristics  can  easily  imagine  his 
cunning  finger  in  that.  He  is  willing  even  to  be 
caricatured,  or  to  be  left  out  of  reckoning,  if  so 
he  may  tighten  his  grip. 

These  suggestions  of  horns  and  hoofs,  of 
forked  tail  and  all  the  rest  of  it  seek  to  give  ma- 
terial form  to  this  being.  They  are  grotesque  to 
an  extreme,  and  therefore  caricatures.  A  carica- 
ture so  disproportions  and  exaggerates  as  to  make 
hideous  or  ridiculous.  In  our  day  when  every 
foundation  of  knowledge  is  being  examined  there 
has  been  a  natural  but  unthinking  turning  away 
from  the  very  being  of  Satan  through  these  repre- 
sentations of  him.  Yet  where  there  is  a  carica- 
ture there  must  be  a  true.  To  revolt  from  the 
true,  hidden  by  a  caricature,  in  revolting  from  the 
caricature  is  easy,  but  is  certainly  bad.  It  is  al- 
ways bad  to  have  the  truth  hid  from  our  eyes. 

It  is  refreshing  and  fascinating  to  turn  from 
these  classical  caricatures  to  the  scriptural  concep- 
tion of  Satan.  In  this  Book  he  is  a  being  of 
great  beauty  of  person,  of  great  dignity  of  posi- 
tion even  yet,  endowed  with  most  remarkable 
intellectual  powers,  a  prince,  at  the  head  of  a 
most  remarkable,  compact  organization  which  he 
has  wielded  with  phenomenal  skill  and  success 
in  furthering  his  ambitious  purposes. 


lo6  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

And  he  is  not  chained  yet.  I  remember  a  con- 
versation with  a  young  clergyman  one  Monday 
morning  in  the  reading-room  of  a  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  It  was  in  a  certain  mining 
town  in  the  southwest,  which  is  as  full  of  evil 
resorts  as  such  places  usually  are.  The  day  be- 
fore, Sunday,  had  been  one  of  special  services, 
and  we  had  both  been  busy  and  were  a  bit 
weary.  We  were  slowing  down  and  chatting 
leisurely.  I  remarked  to  my  friend,  "What  a 
glad  day  it  will  be  when  the  millennium  comes!" 
He  quickly  replied,  "I  think  this  is  the  millen- 
nium." "But,"  I  said,  "  I  thought  Satan  was  to 
be  chained  during  that  time.  Doesn't  it  say  some- 
thing of  that  sort  in  the  Book  ?  "  "  Yes,"  he  re- 
plied, "  it  does.  But  1  think  he  is  chained  now." 
And  I  could  not  resist  the  answer  that  came 
blurting  its  way  out,  "Well,  if  he  is  chained,  he 
must  have  a  fairly  long  chain:  it  seems  to  permit 
much  freedom  of  action."  From  all  that  can  be 
gathered  regarding  this  mighty  prince  he  is  not 
chained  yet.  We  would  do  well  to  learn  more 
about  him.  The  old  military  maxim,  "  Study  the 
enemy,"  should  be  followed  more  closely  here. 

It  is  striking  that  the  oldest  of  the  Bible  books, 
and  the  latest,  Job  and  Revelation,  the  first  word 
and  the  last,  give  such  definite  information  con- 
cerning him.  These  coupled  with  the  gospel 
records  supply  most  of  the  information  available 
though  not  all.  Those  three  and  a  half  years  of 
Jesus'  public  work  is  the  period  of  greatest  Sa- 


The  Great  Outside  Hindrance      107 

tanic  and  demoniac  activity  of  which  any  record 
has  been  made.  Jesus'  own  allusions  to  him  are 
frequent  and  in  unmistakable  language.  There 
are  four  particular  passages  to  which  I  want  to 
turn  your  attention  now.  Let  it  not  be  sup- 
posed, however,  that  this  phase  of  prayer  rests 
upon  a  few  isolated  passages.  Such  a  serious 
truth  does  not  hinge  upon  selected  proof  texts. 
It  is  woven  into  the  very  texture  of  this  Book 
throughout. 

There  are  two  facts  that  run  through  the  Bible 
from  one  end  to  the  other.  They  are  like  two 
threads  ever  crossing  in  the  warp  and  woof  of  a 
finely  woven  fabric.  Anywhere  you  run  your 
shears  into  the  web  of  this  Book  you  will  find 
these  two  threads.  They  run  crosswise  and  are 
woven  inextricably  in.  One  is  a  black  thread, 
inky  black,  pot-black.  The  other  is  a  bright 
thread,  like  a  bit  of  glory  light  streaming  across. 
These  two  threads  everywhere.  The  one  is  this 
— the  black  thread — there  is  an  enemy.  Turn 
where  you  will  from  Genesis  to  Revelation — al- 
ways an  enemy.  He  is  keen.  He  is  subtle.  He 
is  malicious.  He  is  cruel.  He  is  obstinate.  He 
is  a  master.  The  second  thread  is  this:  the  lead- 
ers for  God  have  always  been  men  of  prayer 
above  everything  else.  They  are  men  of  power 
in  other  ways,  preachers,  men  of  action,  with 
power  to  sway  others  but  above  all  else  men  of 
prayer.  They  give  prayer  first  place.  There  is 
one   striking  exception  to  this,   namely,   King 


io8  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

Saul.  And  most  significantly  a  study  of  this  ex- 
ception throws  a  brilliant  lime  light  upon  the  ca- 
reer of  Satan.  King  Saul  seems  to  furnish  the 
one  great  human  illustration  in  scripture  of 
heaven's  renegade  fallen  prince.  These  special 
paragraphs  to  be  quoted  are  like  the  pat- 
tern in  the  cloth  where  the  colours  of  the  yarn 
come  into  more  definite  shape.  The  gospels 
form  the  central  pattern  of  the  whole  where  the 
colours  pile  up  into  sharpest  contrast. 

Praying  is  Fighting. 

But  let  us  turn  to  the  Book  at  once.  For  we 
know  only  what  it  tells.  The  rest  is  surmise. 
The  only  authoritative  statements  about  Satan 
seem  to  be  these  here.  Turn  first  to  the  New 
Testament. 

The  Old  Testament  is  the  book  of  illustrations; 
the  New  of  explanations,  of  teaching.  In  the 
Old,  teaching  is  largely  by  kindergarten  methods. 
The  best  methods,  for  the  world  was  in  its  child 
stage.  In  the  New  the  teaching  is  by  precept. 
There  is  precept  teaching  in  the  Old;  very  much. 
There  is  picture  teaching  in  the  New;  the  gos- 
pels full  of  it.  But  picture  teaching,  acted  teach- 
ing, is  the  characteristic  of  the  Old,  and  precept 
teaching  of  the  New.  There  is  a  wonderfully 
vivid  picture  in  the  Old  Testament,  of  this  thing 
we  are  discussing.  But  first  let  us  get  the  teach- 
ing counterpart  in  the  new,  and  then  look  at 
the  picture. 


The  Great  Outside  Hindrance      109 

Turn  to  Ephesians.  Ephesians  is  a  prayer 
epistle.  That  is  a  very  significant  fact  to  mark. 
Of  Paul's  thirteen  letters  Ephesians  is  peculiarly 
the  prayer  letter.  Paul  is  clearly  in  a  prayer 
mood.  He  is  on  his  knees  here.  He  has  much  to 
say  to  these  people  whom  he  has  won  to  Christ, 
but  it  comes  in  the  parentheses  of  his  prayer.  The 
connecting  phrase  running  through  is — "for  this 
cause  I  pray.  ...  I  bow  my  knees."  Half- 
way through  this  rare  old  man's  mind  runs  out 
to  the  condition  of  these  churches,  and  he  puts 
in  the  always  needed  practical  injunctions  about 
their  daily  lives.  Then  the  prayer  mood  reasserts 
itself,  and  the  epistle  finds  its  climax  in  a  remark- 
able paragraph  on  prayer.  The  climax  of  this 
prayer-epistle  is  this  paragraph  and  the  climax  of 
this  paragraph  is  prayer.  From  praying  the  man 
goes  to  urging  them  to  pray. 

We  must  keep  the  book  open  here  as  we  talk: 
chapter  six,  verses  ten  to  twenty  inclusive.  The 
main  drive  of  all  their  living  and  warfare  seems 
very  clear  to  this  scarred  veteran: — "that  ye 
may  be  able  to  withstand  the  wiles  of  the  devil." 
This  man  seems  to  have  had  no  difficulty  in  believ- 
ing in  a  personal  devil.  Probably  he  had  had 
too  many  close  encounters  for  that.  To  Paul 
Satan  is  a  cunning  strategist  requiring  every 
bit  of  available  resource  to  combat. 

This  paragraph  states  two  things: — who  the 
real  foe  is,  against  whom  the  fight  is  directed; 
and,  then  with  climactic  intensity  it  pitches  on 


no  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

the  main  thing  that  routs  him.    Who  is  the  real 

foe  ?  Listen : — "  For  our  wrestling  is  not  against 
flesh  and  blood" — not  against  men;  never  that; 
something  far  subtler — ''but  against  the  prin- 
cipalities " — a  word  for  a  compact  organization 
of  individuals, — "against  powers" — not  only 
organized  but  highly  endowed  intellectually, 
*'  against  the  world-rulers  of  this  darkness,"— they 
are  of  princely  kin;  not  common  folk — "against 
the  hosts  of  wicked  spirits  in  the  heavenlies  " — 
spirit  beings,  in  vast  numbers,  having  their  head- 
quarters somewhere  above  the  earth.  That  is  the 
foe.  Large  numbers  of  highly  endowed  spirit  be- 
ings, compactly  organized,  who  are  the  sovereigns 
of  the  present  realm  or  age  of  moral  darkness, 
having  their  headquarters  of  activity  somewhere 
above  the  earth,  and  below  the  throne  of  God, 
but  concerned  with  human  beings  upon  the 
earth.  In  chapter  two  of  the  epistle  the  head  or 
ruler  of  this  organization  is  referred  to,  "the 
prince  of  the  powers  of  the  air."'  That  is  the 
real  foe. 

Then  in  one  of  his  strong  piled  up  climactic 
sentences  Paul  tells  how  the  fight  is  to  be  won. 
This  sentence  runs  unbroken  through  verses  four- 
teen to  twenty  inclusive.  There  are  six  prelim- 
inary clauses  in  it  leading  up  to  its  main  state- 
ment. These  clauses  name  the  pieces  of  armour 
used  by  a  Roman  soldier  in  the  action  of  battle. 
The  loins  girt,  the  breastplate  on,  the  feet  shod, 

>  Ephesians  2 :  2. 


The  Great  Outside  Hindrance      ill 

the  shield,  the  helmet  the  sword,  and  so  on. 
A  Roman  soldier  reading  this  or,  hearing  Paul 
preach  it,  would  expect  him  to  finish  the  sentence 
by  saying  "  with  all  your  fighting  strength  fight- 
ing." 

That  would  be  the  proper  conclusion  rhetor- 
ically of  this  sentence.  But  when  Paul  reaches 
the  climax  with  his  usual  intensity  he  drops  the 
rhetorical  figure,  and  puts  in  the  thing  with 
which  in  our  case  the  fighting  is  done — "with 
all  prayer  praying."  In  place  of  the  expected 
word  fighting  is  the  word  praying.  The  thing 
with  which  the  fighting  is  done  is  put  in  place  of 
the  word  itself.  Our  fighting  is  praying.  Pray- 
ing is  fighting,  spirit-fighting.  That  is  to  say, 
this  old  evangelist-missionary-bishop  says,  we 
are  in  the  thick  of  a  fight.  There  is  a  war  on. 
How  shall  we  best  fight .?  First  get  into  good 
shape  to  pray,  and  then  with  all  your  praying 
strength  and  skill  pray.  That  word  praying  is 
the  climax  of  this  long  sentence,  and  of  this 
whole  epistle.  This  is  the  sort  of  action  that 
turns  the  enemy's  flank,  and  reveals  his  heels.  He 
simply  cannot  stand  before  persistent  knee- work. 

Now  mark  the  keenness  of  Paul's  description 
of  the  man  who  does  most  effective  work  in 
praying.  There  are  six  qualifications  under  the 
figure  of  the  six  pieces  of  armour.  A  clear  under-  ^ 
standing  of  truth,  a  clean  obedient  life,  earnest 
service,  a  strongly  simple  trust  in  God,  clear  as- 
surance of  one's  own  salvation  and  relation  to 


112  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

God,  and  a  good  grip  of  the  truth  for  others — 
these  things  prepare  a  man  for  the  real  conflict 
of  prayer.  Such  a  man— praying — drives  back 
these  hosts  of  the  traitor  prince.  Such  a  man 
praying  is  invincible  in  his  Chief,  Jesus.  The 
equipment  is  simple,  and  in  its  beginnings  comes 
quickly  to  the  willing,  earnest  heart. 

Look  a  bit  at  how  the  strong  climax  of  this 
long  sentence  runs.  It  is  fairly  bristling  with 
points.  Soldier-points  all  of  them  ;  like  bayonet 
points.  Just  such  as  a  general  engaged  in  a  siege- 
fight  would  give  to  his  men.  "  With  all  prayer 
and  supplication  " — there  is  intensity  ;  "  praying  " 
— that  is  the  main  drive;  "at  all  seasons" — 
ceaselessness,  night  and  day;  hot  and  cold;  wet 
and  dry;  **in  the  Spirit" — as  guided  by  the 
Chief;  "and  watching  thereunto" — sleepless 
vigilance ;  watching  is  ever  a  fighting  word  ; 
watch  the  enemy ;  watch  your  own  forces ;  "  with 
all  perseverance*'— persistence ;  cheery,  jaw- 
locked,  dogged  persistence,  bulldog  tenacity; 
"and  supplication" — intensity  again;  "for  all 
the  saints  " — the  sweep  of  the  action,  keep  in 
touch  with  the  whole  army;  "and  on  my  behalf " 
— the  human  leader,  rally  around  the  immediate 
leader.  This  is  the  foe  to  be  fought.  And  this 
the  sort  of  fighting  that  defeats  this  foe. 

A  ^Double  Wrestling  Match. 

Now  turn  back  to  the  illustration  section  of  our 
Book  for  a  remarkably  graphic  illustration  of  these 


The  Great  Outside  Hindrance      113 

words.  It  is  in  tlie  old  prophecy  of  Daniel,  tenth 
chapter.  The  story  is  this:  Daniel  is  an  old 
man  now.  He  is  an  exile.  He  has  not  seen  the 
green  hills  of  his  fatherland  since  boyhood.  In 
this  level  Babylon,  he  is  homesick  for  the  dear  old 
Palestinian  hills,  and  he  is  heartsick  over  the 
plight  of  his  people.  He  has  been  studying  Jere- 
miah's prophecies,  and  finds  there  the  promise 
plainly  made  that  after  seventy  years  these  exiled 
Hebrews  are  to  be  allowed  to  return.  Go  back 
again!  The  thought  of  it  quickens  his  pulse- 
beats.  He  does  some  quick  counting.  The  time 
will  soon  be  up.  So  Daniel  plans  a  bit  of  time 
for  special  prayer,  a  sort  of  siege  prayer. 

Remember  who  he  is— this  Daniel.  He  is  the 
chief  executive  of  the  land.  He  controls,  under 
the  king,  the  affairs  of  the  world  empire  of  his 
time.  He  is  a  giant  of  strength  and  ability — this 
man.  But  he  plans  his  work  so  as  to  go  away 
for  a  time.  Taking  a  few  kindred  spirits,  who 
understand  prayer,  he  goes  off  into  the  woods 
down  by  the  great  Tigris  River.  They  spend  a 
day  in  fasting,  and  meditation  and  prayer.  Not 
utter  fasting,  but  scant  eating  of  plain  food.  I 
suppose  they  pray  awhile;  maybe  separately, 
then  together  ;  then  read  a  bit  from  the  Jere- 
miah parchment,  think  and  talk  it  over  and  then 
pray  some  more.  And  so  they  spend  a  whole 
day  reading,  meditating,  praying. 

They  are  expecting  an  answer.  These  old- 
time  intercessors  were  strong  in  expectancy.   But 


114  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

there  is  no  answer.  A  second  day,  a  third,  a 
fourth,  a  week,  still  no  answer  reaches  them. 
They  go  quietly  on  without  hesitation.  Two 
weeks.  How  long  it  must  have  seemed!  Think 
of  fourteen  days  spent  waiting;  waiting  for 
something,  with  your  heart  on  tenter  hooks. 
There  is  no  answer.  God  might  have  been  dead, 
to  adapt  the  words  of  Catharine  Luther,  so  far  as 
any  answer  reaching  them  is  concerned.  But 
you  cannot  befool  Daniel  in  that  way.  He  is  an 
old  hand  at  prayer.  Apparently  he  has  no 
thought  of  quitting.  He  goes  quietly,  steadily 
on.  Twenty  days  pass,  with  no  change.  Still 
they  persist.  Then  the  twenty-first  day  comes 
and  there  is  an  answer.  It  comes  in  a  vision 
whose  glory  is  beyond  human  strength  to  bear. 
By  and  by  when  they  can  talk,  his  visitor  and 
he,  this  is  what  Daniel  hears:  "  Daniel,  the  first 
day  you  began  to  pray,  your  prayer  was  heard, 
and  I  was  sent  with  the  answer."  And  even 
Daniel's  eyes  open  big— "  the  first  day— three 
weeks  ago  ?  "  "  Yes,  three  weeks  ago  I  left  the 
presence  of  God  with  the  answer  to  your  prayer. 
But"— listen,  here  is  the  strange  part— "the 
prince  of  the  kingdom  of  Persia  withstood  me, 
resisted  me,  one  and  twenty  days:  but  Michael, 
your  prince,  came  to  help  me,  and  I  was  free  to 
come  to  you  with  the  answer  to  your  prayer." 

Please  notice  four  things  that  1  think  any  one 
reading  this  chapter  will  readily  admit.  This 
being  talking  with  Daniel  is  plainly  a  spirit  being. 


The  Great  Outside  Hindrance      115 

He  is  opposed  by  some  one.  This  opponent 
plainly  must  be  a  spirit  being,  too,  to  be  resisting 
a  spirit  being.  Daniel's  messenger  is  from  God: 
that  is  clear.  Then  the  opponent  must  be  from 
the  opposite  camp.  And  here  comes  in  the  thing 
strange,  unexpected,  the  evil  spirit  being  has  the 
power  to  detain,  hold  bach  God' s  messenger  for 
three  full  weeks  by  earth's  reckoning  of  time. 
Then  reenforcements  come,  as  we  would  say. 
The  evil  messenger's  purpose  is  defeated,  and 
God's  messenger  is  free  to  come  as  originally 
planned. 

There  is  a  double  scene  being  enacted.  A 
scene  you  can  see,  and  a  scene  you  cannot  see. 
An  unseen  wrestling  match  in  the  upper  spirit 
realm,  and  two  embodied  spirit  beings  down  on 
their  faces  by  the  river.  And  both  concerned 
over  the  same  thing. 

That  is  the  Daniel  story.  What  an  acted  out 
illustration  it  is  of  Paul's  words.  It  is  a  picture 
glowing  with  the  action  of  real  life.  It  is  a 
double  picture.  Every  prayer  action  is  in 
doubles;  a  lower  human  level;  an  upper  spirit 
level.  Many  see  only  the  seen,  and  lose  heart. 
While  we  look  at  the  things  that  are  seen,  let  us 
gaze  intently  at  the  things  unseen;  for  the  seen 
things  are  secondary,  but  the  unseen  are  chief,  and 
the  action  of  life  is  being  decided  there. 

Here  is  the  lower,  the  seen; — a  group  of  men, 
led  by  a  man  of  executive  force  enough  to  control 
an  empire,  prone  on  their  faces,  with  minds  clear, 


ll6  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

quiet,  alert,  persistently,  ceaselessly  praying  day 
by  day.  Here  is  the  upper,  the  unseen: — a 
"wrestling,"  keen,  stubborn,  skilled,  going  on 
between  two  spirit  princes  in  the  spirit  realm. 
And  by  Paul's  explanation  the  two  are  vitally 
connected.  Daniel  and  his  companions  are 
wrestlers  too,  active  participants  in  that  upper- 
air  fight,  and  really  deciding  the  issue,  for  they 
are  on  the  ground  being  contested.  These  men 
are  indeed  praying  with  all  prayer  and  supplica- 
tion at  all  times,  in  the  Spirit,  and  watching 
thereunto  with  all  perseverance  and  supplication, 
and  at  length  victory  comes. 

Prayer  Concerns  Three. 

Now  a  bit  of  a  look  at  the  central  figure  of  the 
pattern.  Jesus  lets  in  a  flood  of  light  on  Satan's 
relation  to  prayer  in  one  of  His  prayer  parables. 
There  are  two  parables  dealing  distinctively  with 
prayer:  "the  friend  at  midnight,"  '  and  "  the  un- 
just judge."  ^  The  second  of  these  deals  directly 
with  this  Satan  phase  of  prayer.  It  is  Luke 
through  whom  we  learn  most  of  Jesus'  own 
praying  who  preserves  for  us  this  remarkable 
prayer  picture. 

It  comes  along  towards  the  end.  The  swing 
has  been  made  from  plain  talking  to  the  less  di- 
rect, parable-form  of  teaching.  The  issue  with 
the  national  leaders  has  reached  its  acutest  stage. 
The   culmination  of   their  hatred,   short  of  the 

»  Luke  1 1 : 5-13.  « Luke  18 :  1-8. 


The  Great  Outside  Hindrance      117 

cross,  found  vent  in  charging  Him  with  being 
inspired  by  the  spirit  of  Satan.  He  felt  their 
charge  keenly  and  answered  it  directly  and  fully. 
His  parable  of  the  strong  man  being  bound  before 
his  house  can  be  rifled  comes  in  here.  They  had 
no  question  as  to  what  that  meant.  That  is  the 
setting  of  this  prayer  parable.  The  setting  is  a 
partial  interpretation.  Let  us  look  at  this  parable 
rather  closely,  for  it  is  full  of  help  for  those  who 
would  become  skilled  in  helping  God  win  His 
world  back  home  again. 

Jesus  seems  so  eager  that  they  shall  not  miss 
the  meaning  here  that  He  departs  from  His  usual 
habit  and  says  plainly  what  this  parable  is  meant 
to  teach  : — "that  men  ought  always  to  pray,  and 
not  to  faint."  The  great  essential,  He  says,  is 
prayer.  The  great  essential  in  prayer  is  persist- 
ence. The  temptation  in  prayer  is  that  one  may 
lose  heart,  and  give  up,  or  give  in.  "Not-to- 
faint"  tells  how  keen  the  contest  is. 

There  are  three  persons  in  the  parable;  a  judge, 
a  widow,  and  an  adversary.  The  judge  is  utterly 
selfish,  unjust,  godless,  and  reckless  of  anybody's 
opinion.  The  worst  sort  of  man,  indeed,  the 
last  sort  of  man  to  be  a  judge.  Inferentially  he 
knows  that  the  right  of  the  case  before  him  is 
with  the  widow.  The  widow — well,  she  is 
a  widow.  Can  more  be  said  to  make  the  thing 
vivid  and  pathetic!  A  very  picture  of  friendless- 
ness  and  helplessness  is  a  widow.  A  woman 
needs    a    friend.    This    woman    has    lost   her 


Il8  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

nearest,  dearest  friend;  her  protector.  She 
is  alone.  There  is  an  adversary,  an  opponent 
at  law,  who  has  unrighteously  or  illegally  gotten 
an  advantage  over  the  widow  and  is  ruthlessly 
pushing  her  to  the  wall.  She  is  seeking  to  get 
the  judge  to  join  with  her  against  her  adversary. 
Her  urgent,  oft  repeated  request  is,  **  avenge  me 
of  mine  adversary."  That  is  Jesus'  pictorial  illus- 
tration of  persistent  prayer. 

Let  us  look  into  it  a  little  further.  ''  Adversary  " 
is  a  common  word  in  scripture  for  Satan.  He  is 
the  accuser,  the  hater,  the  enemy,  the  adversary. 
Its  meaning  technically  is  "an  opponent  in  a 
suit  at  law."  It  is  the  same  word  as  used  later 
by  Peter,  "Your  adversary  the  devil  as  a  roaring 
lion,  goeth  about,  seeking  whom  he  may  de- 
vour."' The  word  "avenge"  used  four  times 
really  means,  "  do  me  justice."  It  suggests  that 
the  widow  has  the  facts  on  her  side  to  win  a 
clear  case,  and  that  the  adversary  has  been  bully- 
ragging his  case  through  by  sheer  force. 

There  is  a  strange  feature  to  this  parable,  which 
must  have  a  meaning.  An  utterly  godless  un- 
scrupulous man  is  put  in  to  represent  God! 
This  is  startling.  In  any  other  than  Jesus  it 
would  seem  an  overstepping  of  the  bounds.  But 
there  is  keenness  of  a  rare  sort  here.  Such  a  man 
is  chosen  for  judge  to  bring  out  most  sharply 
this: — the  sort  of  thing  required  to  win  this 
judge  is  certainly  not  required  with  God.     The 

»  I  Peter  5  : 8. 


The  Great  Outside  Hindrance      1 19 

widow  must  persist  and  plead  because  of  the 
sort  of  man  she  has  to  deal  with.  But  God  is 
utterly  different  in  character.  Therefore  while 
persistence  is  urged  in  prayer  plainly  it  is  not  for 
the  reason  that  required  the  widow  to  persist. 
And  if  that  reason  be  cut  out  it  leaves  only  one 
other,  namely,  that  represented  by  the  ad- 
versary. 

Having  purposely  put  such  a  man  in  the  para- 
ble for  God,  Jesus  takes  pains  to  speak  of  the 
real  character  of  God.  *'  And  He  is  long-suffer- 
ing over  them."  That  is  God.  That  word 
*'  long-suffering  "  and  its  equivalent  on  Jesus'  lips 
suggests  at  once  the  strong  side  of  love,  namely, 
patience,  gentle,  fine  patience.  It  has  bothered 
the  scholars  in  this  phrase  to  know  with  whom 
or  over  what  the  long-suflfering  is  exercised. 
'*  Over  them  "  is  the  doubtful  phrase.  Long-suf- 
fering over  these  praying  ones  }  Or,  long-suf- 
fering in  dealing  righteously  with  some  stub- 
born adversary — which?  The  next  sentence 
has  a  word  set  in  sharpest  contrast  with  this 
one,  namely  "speedily."  ''Long-suffering"  yet 
"speedily." 

Here  are  gleams  of  bright  light  on  a  dark  sub- 
ject with  apparently  more  light  obscured  than  is 
allowed  to  shine  through.  Jesus  always  spoke 
thoughtfully.  He  chooses  His  words.  Remem- 
bering the  adversary  against  whom  the  persist- 
ence is  directed  the  whole  story  seems  to  suggest 
this:  that  there  is  a  great  conflict  on  in  the  upper 


120  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

spirit  world.  Concerning  it  our  patient  God  is 
long-suffering.  He  is  a  just  and  righteous  God. 
These  beings  in  the  conflict  are  all  His  creatures. 
He  is  just  in  His  dealings  with  the  devil  and  this 
splendid  host  of  evil  spirits  even  as  with  all  His 
creation.  He  is  long-suffering  that  no  unfairness 
shall  be  done  in  His  dealings  with  these  creatures 
of  His.  Yet  at  the  same  time  He  is  doing  His 
best  to  bring  the  conflict  to  a  speedy  end,  for  the 
sake  of  His  loyal  loved  ones,  and  that  right  may 
prevail. 

The  upshot  of  the  parable  is  very  plain.  It 
contains  for  us  two  tremendous,  intense  truths. 
First  is  this:  prayer  concerns  three,  not  two  but 
three.  God  to  whom  we  pray,  the  man  on  the 
contested  earth  who  prays,  and  the  evil  one 
against  whom  we  pray.  And  the  purpose  of  the 
prayer  is  not  to  persuade  or  influence  God,  but 
to  join  forces  with  Him  against  the  enemy.  Not 
towards  God,  but  with  God  against  Satan — that 
is  the  main  thing  to  keep  in  mind  in  prayer. 
The  real  pitch  is  not  Godward  but  Satanward. 

The  second  intense  truth  is  this:— the  winning 
quality  in  prayer  is  persistence.  The  final  test  is 
here.  This  is  the  last  ditch.  Many  who  fight 
well  up  to  this  point  lose  their  grip  here,  and  so 
lose  all.  Many  who  are  well  equipped  for  prayer 
fail  here,  and  doubtless  fail  because  they  have 
not  rightly  understood.  With  clear,  ringing 
tones  the  Master's  voice  sounds  in  our  ears  again 
to-day,  "always  to  pray,  and  not  to  faint." 


The  Great  Outside  Hindrance      121 

A  Stubborn  Foe  Routed. 

That  is  the  parable  teaching.  Now  a  look  at 
a  plain  out  word  from  the  Master's  lips.  It  is  in 
the  story  of  the  demonized  boy,  the  distressed 
father,  and  the  defeated  disciples,  at  the  foot  of 
the  transfiguration  mountain.^  Extremes  meet 
here  surely.  The  mountain  peak  is  in  sharpest 
contrast  with  the  valley.  The  demon  seems  to 
be  of  the  superlative  degree.  His  treatment  of 
the  possessed  boy  is  malicious  to  an  extreme. 
His  purpose  is  "to  destroy  "him.  Yet  there  is 
a  limit  to  his  power,  for  what  he  would  do  he 
has  not  yet  been  able  to  do.  He  shows  extreme 
tenacity.  He  fought  bitterly  against  being  dis- 
embodied again.  (Can  it  be  that  embodiment 
eases  in  some  way  the  torture  of  existence  for 
these  prodigal  spirits!)  And  so  far  he  fought 
well,  and  with  success.  The  disciples  had  tried 
to  cast  him  out.  They  were  expected  to.  They 
expected  to.  They  had  before.  They  failed! — 
dismally — amid  the  sneering  and  jeering  of  the 
crowd  and  the  increasing  distress  of  the  poor 
father. 

Then  Jesus  came.  Was  some  of  the  trans- 
figuring glory  still  lingering  in  that  great  face  ? 
It  would  seem  so.  The  crowd  was  "amazed" 
when  they  saw  Him,  and  "saluted"  Him.  His 
presence  changed  all.  The  demon  angrily  left, 
doing  his  worst  to  wreck  the  house  he  had  to 

»  Matthew  17  :  14-20;  Mark  9  :  14-29;  Luke  9  :  37-43. 


122  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

vacate.  The  boy  is  restored;  and  the  crowd 
astonished  at  the  power  of  God. 

Then  these  disciples  did  a  very  keen  thing. 
They  made  some  bad  blunders  but  this  is  not  one 
of  them.  They  sought  a  private  talk  with  Jesus. 
No  shrewder  thing  was  ever  done.  When  you 
fail,  quit  your  service  and  get  away  for  a  private 
interview  with  Jesus.  With  eyes  big,  and 
voices  dejected,  the  question  wrung  itself  out  of 
their  sinking  hearts,  "Why  could  not  w^  cast  it 
out?"  Matthew  and  Mark  together  supply  the 
full  answer.  Probably  first  came  this: — "be- 
cause of  your  little  faith."  They  had  quailed  in 
their  hearts  before  the  power  of  this  malicious 
demon.  And  the  demon  knew  it.  They  were 
more  impressed  with  the  power  of  the  demon 
than  with  the  power  of  God.  And  the  demon 
saw  it.  They  had  not  prayed  victoriously  against 
the  demon.  The  Master  says,  "  faith  only  as  big 
as  a  mustard  seed  (you  cannot  measure  the  strength 
of  the  mustard  seed  by  its  size)  will  say  to  this 
mountain — 'Remove.'"  Mark  keenly: — the  di- 
rection of  the  faith  is  towards  the  obstacle.  Its 
force  is  against  the  enemy.  It  was  the  demon 
who  was  most  directly  influenced  by  Jesus' 
faith. 

Then  comes  the  second  part  of  the  reply: — 
''This  kind  can  come  out  by  nothing  but  by 
prayer."  Some  less-stubborn  demons  may  be 
cast  out  by  the  faith  that  comes  of  our  regular 
prayer-touch  with  God.    This  extreme  sort  takes 


The  Great  Outside  Hindrance      123 

special  prayer.  This  kind  of  a  demon  goes  out 
by  prayer.  It  can  be  put  out  by  nothing  less. 
The  real  victory  must  be  in  the  secret  place.  The 
exercise  of  faith  in  the  open  battle  is  then  a  mere 
pressing  of  the  victory  already  won.  These  men 
had  the  language  of  Jesus  on  their  lips,  but  they 
had  not  gotten  the  victory  first  off  somewhere 
alone.  This  demon  is  determined  not  to  go. 
He  fights  stubbornly  and  strongly.  He  succeeds. 
Then  this  Man  of  Prayer  came.  The  quiet  word 
of  command  is  spoken.  The  demon  must  go. 
These  disciples  were  strikingly  like  some  of  us. 
They  had  not  realised  where  the  real  victory  is 
won.  They  had  used  the  word  of  command  to 
the  demon,  doubtless  coupling  Jesus'  name  with 
it.  But  there  was  not  the  secret  touch  with  God 
that  gives  victory.  Their  eyes  showed  their  fear 
of  the  demon. 

Prayer,  real  prayer,  intelligent  prayer,  it  is  this 
that  routs  Satan's  demons,  for  it  routs  their  chief. 
David  killed  the  lion  and  bear  in  the  secret  forests 
before  he  faced  the  giant  in  the  open.  These 
disciples  were  facing  the  giant  in  the  open  with- 
out the  discipline  in  secret.  "This  kind  can  be 
compelled  to  come  out  by  nothing  but  by  prayer," 
means  this: — **this  kind  comes  out,  and  must 
come  out,  before  the  man  who  prays."  This 
thing  which  Jesus  calls  prayer  casts  out  demons. 
Would  that  we  knew  better  by  experience  what 
He  meant  by  prayer.  It  exerts  a  positive  in- 
fluence upon  the  hosts  of  evil  spirits.    They  fear 


124  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

it.    They  fear  the  man  who  becomes  skilled  in 
its  use. 

There  are  yet  many  other  passages  in  this  Bible 
fully  as  explicit  as  these,  and  which  give  on  the 
very  surface  just  such  plain  teaching  as  these. 
The  very  language  of  scripture  throughout  is  full 
of  this  truth.  But  these  four  great  instances  are 
quite  sufficient  to  make  the  present  point  clear 
and  plain.  This  great  renegade  prince  is  an 
actual  active  factor  in  the  lives  of  men.  He  be- 
lieves in  the  potency  of  prayer.  He  fears  it.  He 
can  hinder  its  results  for  a  while.  He  does  his 
best  to  hinder  it,  and  to  hinder  as  long  as 
possible. 

Prayer  overcomes  him.  It  defeats  his  plans 
and  himself.  He  cannot  successfully  stand  be- 
fore it.  He  trembles  when  some  man  of  simple 
faith  in  God  prays.  Prayer  is  insistence  upon 
God's  will  being  done.  It  needs  for  its  practice 
a  man  in  sympathetic  touch  with  God.  Its  basis 
is  Jesus*  victory.  It  overcomes  the  opposing  will 
of  the  great  traitor-leader. 


III.     HOW  TO  PRAY 


1.  The  "How"  of  Relationship. 

2.  The  "  How  "  of  Method. 

3.  The  Listening  Side  of  Prayer. 

4.  Something  About  God*s  Will  in  Connec- 

tion WITH  Prayer. 

5.  May  We  Pray  with  Assurance  for  the 

Conversion  of  Our  Loved  Ones? 


The  «^  How  "of  Relationship 


God's  Ambassadors. 

If  I  had  an  ambition  to  be  the  ambassador  of 
this  country  to  our  mother-country,  there  would 
be  two  essential  things  involved.  The  first  and 
great  essential  would  be  to  receive  the  appoint- 
ment. I  would  need  to  come  into  certain  rela- 
tion with  our  president,  to  possess  certain  qual- 
ifications considered  essential  by  him,  and  to 
secure  from  his  hand  the  appointment,  and  the 
official  credentials  of  my  appointment.  That 
would  establish  my  relationship  to  the  foreign 
court  as  the  representative  of  my  own  country, 
and  my  right  to  transact  business  in  her  name. 

But  having  gotten  that  far  I  might  go  over 
there  and  make  bad  mistakes.  I  might  get  our 
diplomatic  relations  tangled  up,  requiring  many 
explanations,  and  maybe  apologies,  and  leaving 
unpleasant  memories  for  a  long  time  to  come. 
Such  incidents  have  not  been  infrequent.  Nations 
are  very  sensitive.  Governmental  affairs  must 
be  handled  with  great  nicety.  There  would  be  a 
second  thing  which  if  I  were  a  wise  enough  man 
to  be  an  ambassador  1  would  likely  do.  I  would 
127 


128  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

go  to  see  John  Hay  and  Joseph  H.  Choate,  and 
have  as  many  interviews  with  them  as  possible, 
and  learn  all  I  possibly  could  from  them  of  Lon- 
don official  life,  court  etiquette,  personages  to  be 
dealt  with,  things  to  do,  and  things  to  avoid. 
How  to  be  a  successful  diplomat  and  further  the 
good  feeling  between  the  two  governments,  and 
win  friends  for  our  country  among  the  sturdy 
Britons  would  be  my  one  absorbing  thought. 
And  having  gotten  all  I  could  in  that  way  I  would 
be  constantly  on  the  alert  with  all  the  mental 
keenness  I  could  command  to  practice  being  a 
successful  ambassador. 

The  first  of  these  would  make  me  technically 
an  ambassador.  The  second  would  tend  towards 
giving  me  some  skill  as  an  ambassador.  Now 
there  are  the  same  two  how's  in  praying.  First 
the  relationship  must  be  established  before  any 
business  can  be  transacted.  Then  skill  must  be 
acquired  in  the  transacting  of  the  business  on 
hand. 

Just  now,  we  want  to  talk  about  the  first  of 
these,  the  how  of  relationship  in  prayer./  The 
basis. of  prayer  is  right  relationship  with  God. 
Prayer  is  representing  God  in  the  spirit  realm  of 
this  world.  It  is  insisting  upon  His  rights  down 
in  this  sphere  of  action.  It  is  standing  for  Him 
with  full  powers  from  Him.  Clearly  the  only 
basis  of  such  relationship  to  God  is  Jesus.  We 
have  been  outlawed  by  sin.  We  were  in  touch 
with  God.     We  broke  with  Him.     The  break 


The  "How"  of  Relationship       129 

could  not  be  repaired  by  us.  Jesus  came.  He 
was  God  afid  Man.  He  touches  both.  We  get 
back  through  Him,  and  only  so.  The  blood  of 
the  cross  is  the  basis  of  all  prayer.  Through  it 
the  relationship  is  established  that  underlies  all 
prayer.  Only  as  I  come  to  God  through  Jesus  to 
get  the  sin  score  straightened,  and  only  as  I  keep 
in  sympathy  with  Jesus  in  the  purpose  of  my  life 
can  I  practice  prayer. 

Six  Sweeping  Statements. 

Jesus'  own  words  make  this  very  clear.  There 
are  two  groups  of  teachings  on  prayer  in  those 
three  and  a  half  years  as  given  by  the  gospel 
records.  The  first  of  these  groups  is  in  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  which  Jesus  preached  about 
half-way  through  the  second  year  of  His  ministry. 
The  second  group  comes  sheer  at  the  end.  All 
of  it  is  in  the  last  six  months,  and  most  of  it  in 
the  last  ten  days,  and  much  of  that  on  the  very 
eve  of  that  last  tragic  day. 

It  is  after  the  sharp  rupture  with  the  leaders 
that  this  second  series  of  statements  is  made. 
The  most  positive,  and  most  sweeping  utterances 
on  prayer  are  here.  Of  Jesus'  eight  promises 
regarding  prayer  six  are  here.  I  want  to  ask  you 
please  to  notice  these  six  promises  or  statements; 
and  then,  to  notice  their  relation  to  our  topic  of 
to-day. 

In  Matthew  18: 19,  20,  is  the  first  of  these. 
*' Again  I  say  unto  you,  that  if  two  of  you  shall 


13^  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

agree  on  earth,  as  touching  anything  that  they 
shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  My  Father 
who  is  in  heaven."  Notice  the  place  of  prayer — 
\  '*on  earth  ";  and  the  sweep — "  anything  ";  and 
(the  positiveness — "it  shall  be  done."  Then  the 
reason  why  is  given.  "  For  where  two  or  three 
are  gathered  together  in  My  name,  there  am  I  in 
the  midst  of  them."  That  is  to  say,  if  there  are 
two  persons  praying,  there  are  three.  If  three 
meet  to  pray,  there  are  four  praying.  There  is 
always  one  more  than  you  can  see.  And  if  you 
might  perhaps  be  saying  to  yourself  in  a  bit  of 
dejection,  "He'll  not  hear  me:  I'm  so  sinful:  so 
weak" — you  would  be  wrong  in  thinking  and 
saying  so,  but  then  we  do  think  and  say  things 
that  are  not  right—//  you  might  be  thinking 
that,  you  could  at  once  fall  back  upon  this:  the 
Father  always  hears  Jesus.  And  wherever  earnest 
hearts  pray  Jesus  is  there  taking  their  prayer  and 
making  it  His  prayer. 

The  second  of  these:  Mark  1 1 :  22-24,  "Jesus 
answering  saith  unto  them,  have  faith  in  God" — 
with  the  emphasis  double-lined  under  the  word 
"God."  The  chief  factor  in  prayer  is  God. 
"Verily  I  say  unto  you,  whosoever  shall  say  unto 
this  mountain,  be  thou  taken  up  and  cast  into  the 

sea "    Choosing,  do  you  see  the  unlikeliest 

thing  that  might  occur.  Such  a  thing  did  not 
take  place.  We  never  hear  of  Jesus  moving  an 
actual  mountain.  The  need  for  such  action  does 
not  seem  to  have  arisen.    But  He  chooses  the 


The  "How"  of  Relationship       131 

thing  most  difficult  for  His  illustration.  Can  you 
imagine  a  mountain  moving  off  into  the  sea— the 
Jungfrau,  or  Blanc,  or  Rainier?  If  you  know 
mountains  down  in  your  country  you  cannot  im- 
agine it  actually  occurring.     '* And  shall  not 

doubt  in  his  heart "    That  is  Jesus'  definition 

of  faith.     " But  shall  believe  that  what  he 

saith  cometh  to  pass;  he  shall  have  it.  Therefore, 
I  say  unto  you,  all  things  whatsoever  ye  pray 
and  ask  for,  believe  that  ye  receive  them,  and 
ye  shall  have  them."  How  utterly  sweeping  this 
last  statement!  And  to  make  it  more  positive  it 
is  preceded  by  the  emphatic  "therefore — I — say 
—unto — you."  Both  whatsoever  and  whosoever 
are  here.  Anything,  and  anybody.  We  always 
feel  instinctively  as  though  these  statements 
need  careful  guarding:  a  few  fences  put  up 
around  them.  Wait  a  bit  and  we  shall  see  what 
the  Master's  own  fence  is. 

The  last  four  of  the  six  are  in  John's  gospel. 
In  that  last  long  quiet  talk  on  the  night  in  which 
He  was  betrayed.  John  preserves  much  of  that 
heart-talk  for  us  in  chapters  thirteen  to  seventeen. 

Here  in  John  14: 13,  14:  ''And  whatsoever  ye 
shall  ask  in  My  name,  that  will  I  do,  that  the 
Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son.  If  ye  shall 
ask  anything  in  My  name,  that  will  I  do."  The 
repetition  is  to  emphasize  the  unlimited  sweep  of 
what  may  be  asked. 

John  15:7:  *  *  If  ye  abide  in  Me,  and  My  words 
abide  in  you "    That  word  abide  is  a  strong 


13^  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

word.  It  does  not  mean  to  leave  your  cards; 
nor  to  hire  a  night's  lodging;  nor  to  pitch  a  tent, 
or  run  up  a  miner's  shanty,  or  a  lumberman's 

shack.     It  means  moving  in  to  stay.     ** Ask 

whatsoever  ye  will "    The  Old  Version  says, 

"ye  shall  ask."  But  here  the  revised  is  more  ac- 
curate: "Ask;  please  ask;  I  ask  you  to  ask." 
There  is  nothing  said  directly  about  God's 
will.     There  is  something  said  about  our  wills. 

" And  it  shall  be  done  unto  you."     Or,  a 

little  more  literally,  "I  will  bring  it  to  pass  for 
you." 

I  remember  the  remark  quoted  to  me  by  a  friend 
one  day.  His  church  membership  is  in  the  Meth- 
odist Church  of  the  North,  but  his  service  crosses 
church  lines  both  in  this  country  and  abroad. 
He  was  talking  with  one  of  the  bishops  of  that 
church  whose  heart  was  in  the  foreign  mission 
field.  The  bishop  was  eager  to  have  this  friend 
serve  as  missionary  secretary  of  his  church.  But 
he  knew,  as  everybody  knows,  how  difficult  ap- 
pointments oftentimes  are  in  all  large  bodies. 
He  was  earnestly  discussing  the  matter  with  my 
friend,  and  made  this  remark:  "If  you  will  al- 
low the  use  of  your  name  for  this  appointment, 
/  will  lay  myself  out  to  have  it  made."  Now  if 
you  will  kindly  not  think  there  is  any  lack  of  rev- 
erence in  my  saying  so — and  there  is  surely  none 
in  my  thought — that  is  the  practical  meaning  of 
Jesus'  words  here.  "  If  you  abide  in  Me,  and  My 
words  sway  you,  you  please  ask  what  it  is  your 


The  "How"  of  Relationship       133 

will  to  ask.  And— softly,  reverently  now— I  will 
lay  Myself  out  to  bring  that  thing  to  pass  for 
you."    That  is  the  force  of  His  words  here. 

This  same  chapter,  sixteenth  verse:  "  Ye  did 
not  choose  Me,  but  I  chose  you,  and  appointed 
you,  that  ye  should  go  and  bear  fruit,  and  that 
your  fruit  should  abide;  that  whatsoever  ye  shall 
ask  of  the  Father  in  My  name.  He  may  give  it 
you."  God  had  our  prayer  partnership  with 
Himself  in  His  mind  in  choosing  us.  And  the 
last  of  these,  John  16:23,  24,  second  clause, 
"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  if  ye  shall  ask 
anything  of  the  Father,  He  will  give  it  you  in  My 
name.  Hitherto  have  ye  asked  nothing  in  My 
name:  ask,  and  ye  shall  receive,  that  your  joy 
may  be  fulfilled." 

These  statements  are  the  most  sweeping  to  be 
found  anywhere  in  the  Scriptures  regarding 
prayer.  There  is  no  limitation  as  to  who  shall 
ask,  nor  the  kind  of  thing  to  be  asked  for.  There 
are  three  limitations  imposed:  the  prayer  is  to  be 
through  Jesus;  the  person  praying  is  to  be  in 
fullest  sympathy  with  Him;  and  this  person  is 
to  have  faith. 

Words  With  a  Freshly  Honed  Ra^or-Edge, 

Now  please  group  these  six  sweeping  state- 
ments in  your  mind  and  hold  them  together 
there.  Then  notice  carefully  this  fact.  These 
words  are  not  spoken  to  the  crowds.  They  are 
spoken  to  the  small  inner  group  of  twelve  dis- 


134  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

ciples.  Jesus  talks  one  way  to  the  multitude. 
He  oftentimes  talks  differently  to  these  men  who 
have  separated  themselves  from  the  crowd  and 
come  into  the  inner  circle. 

And  notice  further  that  before  Jesus  spoke 
these  words  to  this  group  of  men  He  had  said 
something  else  first.  Something  very  radical;  so 
radical  that  it  led  to  a  sharp  passage  between 
Himself  and  Peter,  to  whom  He  speaks  very 
sternly.  This  something  else  fixes  unmistakably 
their  relation  to  Himself.  Remember  that  the 
sharp  break  with  the  national  leaders  has  come. 
Jesus  is  charged  with  Satanic  collusion.  The 
death  plot  is  determined  upon.  The  breach  with 
the  leaders  is  past  the  healing  point.  And  now 
the  Master  is  frequently  slipping  away  from  the 
crowd  with  these  twelve  men,  and  seeking  to 
teach  and  train  them.  That  is  the  setting  of 
these  great  promises.  It  must  be  kept  continually 
in  mind. 

Before  the  Master  gave  Himself  away  to  these 
men  in  these  promises  He  said  this  something 
else.  It  is  this.  I  quote  Matthew's  account: 
"  If  any  man  would  come  after  Me  let  him  deny 
himself  and  take  up  his  cross  (daily,  Luke's  addi- 
tion) and  follow  Me."*  These  words  should  be 
written  crosswise  over  those  six  prayer  statements. 
Jesus  never  spoke  a  keener  word.  Those  six 
promises  are  not  meant  for  all.    Let  it  be  said  very 

» Matthew  i6:  24. 


^ 


The  "How"  of  Relationship       135 

plainly.  They  are  meant  only  for  those  who  will 
square  their  lives  by  these  razor-edged  words. 

I  may  not  go  fully  into  the  significance  of  these 
deep-cutting  words  here.  They  have  been  gone 
into  at  some  length  in  a  previous  set  of  talks  as 
suggesting  the  price  of  power./^  To  him  whose 
heart  burns  for  power  in  prayer  I  urge  a  careful 
review  of  that  talk  in  this  new  setting  of  it^^  "  If 
any  man  would  come  after  Me  "  means  a  rock- 
rooted  purpose;  the  jaw  locked;  the  tendrils  of 
the  purpose  going  down  around  and  under  the 
gray  granite  of  a  man's  will,  and  tying  them- 
selves there;  and  knotting  the  ties;  sailor  knots, 
that  you  cannot  undo. 

"Come  after  Me"  means  all  the  power  of 
Jesus'  life,  and  has  the  other  side,  too.  It  means 
the  wilderness,  the  intense  temptation.  It  may 
mean  the  obscure  village  of  Nazareth  for  you. 
It  may  mean  that  first  Judean  year  for  you — lack 
of  appreciation.  It  may  mean  for  you  that  last 
six  months — the  desertion  of  those  hitherto 
friendly.  It  will  mean  without  doubt  a  Geth- 
semane.  Everybody  who  comes  along  after 
Jesus  has  a  Gethsemane  in  his  life.  It  will  never 
mean  as  much  to  you  as  it  meant  to  Him.  That 
is  true.  But,  then,  it  will  mean  everything  to 
you.  And  it  will  mean  too  having  a  Calvary  in 
your  life  in  a  very  real  sense,  though  different 
from  what  that  meant  to  Him.  This  sentence 
through  gives  the  process  whereby  the  man  with 
sin  grained  into  the  fibre  of  his  will  may  come 


^3^  Q^ict  Talks  on  Prayer 

into  such  relationship  with  God  as  to  claim  with- 
out any  reservation  these  great  prayer  promises. 
And  if  that  sound  hard  and  severe  to  you  let  me 
quickly  say  that  it  is  an  easy  way  for  the  man 
who  is  willing.  The  presence  of  Jesus  in  the  life 
J    overlaps  every  cutting  thing. 

't*'^  If  a  man  will  go  through  Matthew  i6:  24,  and 
habitually  live  there  he  may  ask  what  he  wills  to 
ask,  and  that  thing  will  come  to  pass.  The 
reason,  without  question,  why  many  people  do 

>vo^  have  power  in  prayer  is  simply  because  they  are 
unwilling — I  am  just  talking  very  plainly — they 
are  unwilling  to  bare  their  breasts  to  the  keen- 
edged  knife  in  these  words  of  Jesus.  And  on 
the  other  side,  if  a  man  will  quietly,  resolutely 
follow  the  Master's  leading— nothing  extreme — 
nothing  fanatical,  or  morbid,  just  a  quiet  going 
where  that  inner  Voice  plainly  leads  day  by  day, 
he  will  be  startled  to  find  what  an  utterly  new 
meaning  prayer  will  come  to  have  for  him. 

The  Controlling  Purpose. 

Vital  relationship  is  always  expressed  by  pur- 
pose. The  wise  ambassador  has  an  absorbing 
purpose  to  further  the  interests  of  his  government. 
Jesus  said,  and  it  at  once  reveals  His  relationship 
to  God,  '*  I  do  always  those  things  that  are  well 
pleasing  to  him." 

The  relationship  that  underlies  prayer  has  an 
absorbing  purpose.  Its  controlling  purpose  is  to 
please  Jesus.     That  sentence  may  sound  simple 


The  "How"  of  Relationship       137 

enough.  But,  do  you  know,  there  is  no  sentence 
I  might  utter  that  has  a  keener,  a  more  freshly 
honed  razor-edge  to  it  than  that.  That  the  pur- 
pose which  controls  my  action  in  every  matter  be 
this:  to  please  Him.  If  you  have  not  done  so, 
take  it  for  a  day,  a  week,  and  use  it  as  a  touch 
stone  regarding  thought,  word  and  action.  Take 
it  into  matters  personal,  home,  business,  social, 
fraternal.  It  does  not  mean  to  ask,  "Is  this 
right?  is  this  wrong?"  Not  that.  Not  the 
driving  of  a  keen  line  between  wrong  and  right. 
There  are  a  great  many  things  that  can  be 
proven  to  be  not  wrong,  but  that  are  not  best, 
that  are  not  His  preference. 

It  will  send  a  business  man  running  his  eye 
along  the  shelves  and  counter  of  his  store. 
**  The  controlling  purpose  to  please  Jesus  .  .  . 
hm-m-m,  I  guess  maybe  that  stuff  there  ought 
to  come  out.  Oh,  it  is  not  wrong:  I  can  prove 
that.  My  Christian  brother-merchants  handle  it 
here,  and  over  the  country:  but  to  please  Him:  a 
good,  clean  sixty  percent,  profit  too,  cash  money, 

but  to  please  Him "  and  the  stuff  must  go 

down  and  out. 

It  would  set  some  woman  to  thinking  about 
the  next  time  the  young  people  are  to  gather  in 
her  home  for  a  delightful  social  evening  with  her 
own  daughters.  She  will  think  about  some 
forms  of  pastime  that  are  found  everywhere. 
They  are  not  wrong,  that  has  been  conclusively 
proven,     "^ui  to  please  Him.    Hm-m.   And  these 


13^  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

will  go  out.  And  then  it  will  set  her  to  work  with 
all  her  God-given  woman-wit  and  exquisite  tact 
to  planning  an  evening  yet  more  delightful.  It 
will  make  one  think  of  his  personal  habits,  his 
business  methods,  and  social  intercourse,  the  or- 
ganizations he  belongs  to,  with  the  quiet  question 
cutting  it  razor-way  into  each. 

And  if  some  one  listening  may  ask:  Why 
put  the  condition  of  prayer  so  strongly  as  that  ? 
1  will  remind  you  of  this.  The  true  basis  of 
prayer  is  sympathy,  oneness  of  purpose.  Prayer 
is  not  extracting  favours  from  a  reluctant  God.  It 
is  not  passing  a  check  in  a  bank  window  for 
money.  That  is  mandatory.  The  roots  of 
prayer  lie  down  in  oneness  of  purpose.  God  up 
yonder.  His  Victor-Son  by  His  side,  and  a  man 
down  here,  in  such  sympathetic  touch  that  God 
can  think  His  thoughts  over  in  this  man's  mind, 
and  have  His  desires  repeated  upon  the  earth  as 
this  man's  prayer. 

The  Threefold  Cord  of  Jesus'  Life. 

Think  for  a  moment  into  Jesus'  human  life 
down  here.  His  marvellous  activities  for  those 
few  years  over  which  the  world  has  never  ceased 
to  wonder.  Then  His  underneath  hidden-away 
prayer-life  of  which  only  occasional  glimpses  are 
gotten.  Then  grouping  around  about  that  sen- 
tence of  His — *M  do  always  the  things  that  are 
pleasing  to  Him  " — in  John's  gospel,  pick  out  the 
emphatic  negatives  on  Jesus'  lips,  the  "not's": 


The  "How"  of  Relationship       139 

not  My  will,  not  My  works,  not  My  words. 
Jesus  came  to  do  somebody's  else  will.  The 
controlling  purpose  of  His  life  was  to  please  His 
Father.  That  was  the  secret  of  the  power  of  His 
earthly  career.  Right  relationship  to  God;  a 
secret  intimate  prayer-life:  marvellous  power 
over  men  and  with  men — those  are  the  strands  in 
the  threefold  cord  of  His  life. 

There  is  a  very  striking  turn  of  a  word  in  the 
second  chapter  of  John's  gospel  down  almost  at 
its  close.  The  old  version  says  that  "  Many  be- 
lieved on  His  name  beholding  His  signs  which  He 
did,  but  Jesus  did  not  commit  Himself  unto  them  " 
because  He  knew  them  so  well.  The  word 
*' believed,"  and  the  word  ''commit"  are  the 
same  word  underneath  our  English.  The  sen- 
tence might  run  ''many  trusted  Him  beholding 
what  He  did;  but  He  did  not  trust  Xhem  for  He 
knew  them."  1  have  no  doubt  most,  or  all  of  us 
here  to-day,  trust  Him.  Let  me  ask  you  very 
softly  now:  Can  He  trust  you?  While  we 
might  all  shrink  from  saying  "yes  "  to  that,  there 
is  a  very  real  sense  in  which  we  may  say  "yes," 
namely,  in  the  purpose  of  the  life.  Every  life  is 
controlled  by  some  purpose.  What  is  yours? 
To  please  Him  ?  If  so  He  knows  it.  It  is  a  great 
comfort  to  remember  that  God  judges  a  man  not 
by  his  achievements,  but  by  his  purposes:  not 
by  what  1  am,  actually,  but  by  what  I  would  be, 
in  the  yearning  of  my  inmost  heart,  the  dominant 
purpose  of  my  life.    God  will  fairly  flood  your 


140  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

life  with  all  the  power  He  can  trust  you  to  use 
wholly  for  Him. 

Commercial  practice  furnishes  a  simple  but 
striking  illustration  here.  A  man  is  employed 
by  a  business  house  as  a  clerk.  His  ability  and 
honesty  come  to  be  tested  in  many  ways  con- 
stantly. He  is  promoted  gradually,  his  responsi- 
bilities increased.  As  he  proves  himself 
thoroughly  reliable  he  is  trusted  more  and 
more,  until  by  and  by  as  need  arises  he  becomes 
the  firm's  confidential  clerk.  He  knows  its 
secrets.  He  is  trusted  with  the  combination  to 
the  inner  box  in  the  vault.  Because  it  has  been 
proven  by  actual  test  that  he  will  use  everything 
only  for  the  best  interests  of  his  house,  and  not 
selfishly. 

Here,  where  we  are  dealing,  the  whole  thing 
moves  up  to  an  infinitely  higher  level,  but  the 
principle  does  not  change.  If  I  will  come  into 
the  relationship  implied  in  these  words: — it  shall 
be  the  one  controlling  desire  and  purpose  of  my 
life  to  do  the  things  that  please  Him— then  1  may 
ask  for  what  1  will,  and  it  shall  be  done.  That 
is  how  to  pray:  the  how  of  relationship.  The 
man  who  will  live  in  Matthew  16:  24,  and  fol- 
low Jesus  as  He  leads:  simply  that:  no  .fanati- 
cism, no  morbidism,  no  extremism,  just  simply 
follow  as  He  leads,  day  by  day, — then  those  six 
promises  of  Jesus  with  their  wonderful  sweep, 
their  limitless  sweep  are  his  to  use  as  he  will. 


The  "How"  of  Method 


Touching  the  Hidden  Keys. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  illustrations  in  re- 
cent times  of  the  power  of  prayer,  may  be  found 
in  the  experience  of  Mr.  Moody.  It  explains  his 
unparalleled  career  of  world-wide  soul  winning. 
One  marvels  that  more  has  not  been  said  of  it. 
Its  stimulus  to  faith  is  great.  I  suppose  the  man 
most  concerned  did  not  speak  of  it  much  because 
of  his  fine  modesty.  The  last  year  of  his  life  he 
referred  to  it  more  frequently  as  though  im- 
pelled to. 

The  last  time  I  heard  Mr.  Moody  was  in  his 
own  church  in  Chicago.  It  was,  I  think, 
in  the  fall  of  the  last  year  of  his  life. 
One  morning  in  the  old  church  made 
famous  by  his  early  work,  in  a  quiet  conver- 
sational way  he  told  the  story.  It  was  back 
in  the  early  seventies,  when  Chicago  had  been 
laid  in  ashes.  "  This  building  was  not  yet  up  far 
enough  to  do  much  in,"  he  said;  "so  I  thought 
I  would  slip  across  the  water,  and  learn  what  I 
could  from  preachers  there,  so  as  to  do  better 
work  here.  I  had  gone  over  to  London,  and  was 
141 


142  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

running  around  after  men  there."  Then  he  told 
of  going  one  evening  to  hear  Mr.  Spurgeon  in  the 
Metropolitan  Tabernacle;  and  understanding  that 
he  was  to  speak  a  second  time  that  evening  to 
dedicate  a  chapel,  Mr.  Moody  had  slipped  out  of 
the  building  and  had  run  along  the  street  after 
Mr.  Spurgeon's  carriage  a  mile  or  so,  so  as  to 
hear  him  the  second  time.  Then  he  smiled,  and 
said  quietly,  "I  was  running  around  after  men 
like  that." 

He  had  not  been  speaking  anywhere,  he  said, 
but  listening  to  others.  One  day,  Saturday,  at 
noon,  he  had  gone  into  the  meeting  in  Exeter 
Hall  on  the  Strand;  felt  impelled  to  speak  a  little 
when  the  meeting  was  thrown  open,  and  did  so. 
At  the  close  among  others  who  greeted  him,  one 
man,  a  minister,  asked  him  to  come  and  preach 
for  him  the  next  day  morning  and  night,  and  he 
said  he  would.  Mr.  Moody  said,  "1  went  to  the 
morning  service  and  found  a  large  church  full  of 
people.  And  when  the  time  came  1  began  to 
speak  to  them.  But  it  seemed  the  hardest  talk- 
ing ever  I  did.  There  was  no  response  in  their 
faces.  They  seemed  as  though  carved  out  of 
stone  or  ice.  And  I  was  having  a  hard  time:  and 
wished  I  wasn't  there;  and  wished  I  hadn't  prom- 
ised to  speak  again  at  night.  But  I  had  promised, 
and  so  I  went. 

"At  night  it  was  the  same  thing:  house  full, 
people  outwardly  respectful,  but  no  interest,  no 
response.     And  I  was  having  a  hard  time  again. 


The  "How"  of  Method  143 

When  about  half-way  through  my  talk  there 
came  a  change.  It  seemed  as  though  the  win- 
dows of  heaven  had  opened  and  a  bit  of  breath 
blew  down.  The  atmosphere  of  the  building 
seemed  to  change.  The  people's  faces  changed. 
It  impressed  me  so  that  when  I  finished  speaking 
I  gave  the  invitation  for  those  who  wanted  to  be 
Christians  to  rise.  I  thought  there  might  be  a 
few.  And  to  my  immense  surprise  the  people 
got  up  in  groups,  pew-fulls.  I  turned  to  the 
minister  and  said,  *  What  does  this  mean  ? '  He 
said,  *  I  don't  know,  I'm  sure.'  Well,"  Mr. 
Moody  said,  "they  misunderstood  me.  I'll  ex- 
plain what  I  meant."  So  he  announced  an  after- 
meeting  in  the  room  below,  explaining  who  were 
invited:  only  those  who  wanted  to  be  Christians; 
and  putting  pretty  clearly  what  he  understood 
that  to  mean,  and  dismissed  the  service. 

They  went  to  the  lower  room.  And  the  peo- 
ple came  crowding,  jamming  in  below,  filling  all 
available  space,  seats,  aisles  and  standing  room. 
Mr.  Moody  talked  again  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
asked  those  who  would  be  Christians  to  rise. 
This  time  he  knew  he  had  made  his  meaning 
clear.  They  got  up  in  clumps,  in  groups,  by 
fifties!  Mr.  Moody  said,  "I  turned  and  said  to 
the  minister,  *  What  does  this  mean  ? '  He  said, 
*  I'm  sure  I  don't  know.' "  Then  the  minister  said 
to  Mr.  Moody,  '*  What'll  I  do  with  these  people  ? 
I  don't  know  what  to  do  with  them ;  this  is  some- 
thing new."    And  he  said,  "Well,  I'd  announce 


144  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

a  meeting  for  to-morrow  night,  and  Tuesday 
night,  and  see  what  comes  of  it;  I'm  going  across 
the  channel  to  Dublin."  And  he  went,  but  he 
had  barely  stepped  off  the  boat  when  a  cable- 
gram was  handed  him  from  the  minister  saying, 
"  Come  back  at  once.  Church  packed."  So  he 
went  back,  and  stayed  ten  days.  And  the  result 
of  that  ten  days,  as  I  recall  Mr.  Moody's  words, 
was  that  four  hundred  were  added  to  that  church, 
and  that  every  church  near  by  felt  the  impulse  of 
those  ten  days.  Then  Mr.  Moody  dropped  his 
head,  as  though  thinking  back,  and  said:  "  I  had 
no  plans  beyond  this  church.  I  supposed  my  life 
work  was  here.  But  the  result  with  me  was 
that  I  was  given  a  roving  commission  and  have 
been  working  under  it  ever  since." 

Now  what  was  the  explanation  of  that  mar- 
vellous Sunday  and  days  following  ?  It  was  not 
Mr.  Moody's  doing,  though  he  was  a  leader 
whom  God  could  and  did  mightily  use.  It  was 
not  the  minister's  doing;  for  he  was  as  greatly 
surprised  as  the  leader.  There  was  some  secret 
hidden  beneath  the  surface  of  those  ten  days. 
With  his  usual  keenness  Mr.  Moody  set  himself 
to  ferret  it  out. 

By  and  by  this  incident  came  to  him.  A  mem- 
ber of  the  church,  a  woman,  had  been  taken  sick 
some  time  before.  Then  she  grew  worse.  Then 
the  physician  told  her  that  she  would  not  recover. 
That  is,  she  would  not  die  at  once,  so  far  as  he 
could  judge,  but  she  would  be  shut  in  her  home 


The  "How"  of  Method  145 

for  years.  And  she  lay  there  trying  to  think 
what  that  meant:  to  be  shut  in  for  years.  And 
she  thought  of  her  life,  and  said,  ''How  little 
I've  done  for  God:  practically  nothing:  and  now 
what  can  I  do  shut  in  here  on  my  back."  And 
she  said,  "I  can  pray." 

May  1  put  this  word  in  here  as  a  parenthesis  in 
the  story — that  God  oftentimes  allows  us  to  be 
shut  in— He  does  not  shut  us  in— He  does  not 
need  to— simply  take  His  hand  off  partly — there 
is  enough  disobedience  to  His  law  of  our  bodies 
all  the  time  to  shut  us  aside— no  trouble  on  that 
side  of  the  problem — with  pain  to  Himself,  against 
His  own  first  will  for  us,  He  allows  us  to  be  shut 
in,  because  only  so  can  He  get  our  attention  from 
other  things  to  what  He  wants  done;  get  us 
to  see  things,  and  think  things  His  way.  I  am 
compelled  to  think  it  is  so. 

She  said,  "I  will  pray."  And  she  was  led  to 
pray  for  her  church.  Her  sister,  also  a  member 
of  the  church,  lived  with  her,  and  was  her  link 
with  the  outer  world.  Sundays,  after  church 
service,  the  sick  woman  would  ask,  *'  Any  special 
interest  in  church  to-day  ?  "  *  *  No, "  was  the  con- 
stant reply.  Wednesday  nights,  after  prayer- 
meetings,  "Any  special  interest  in  the  service  to- 
night? there  must  have  been."  "No;  nothing 
new;  same  old  deacons  made  the  same  old 
prayers." 

But  one  Sunday  noon  the  sister  came  in  from 
service  and  asked,  "Who  do  you  think  preached 


146  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

to-day?"  "I  don't  know,  who?"  **Why,  a 
stranger  from  America,  a  man  called  Moody,  I 
think  was  the  name."  And  the  sick  woman's 
face  turned  a  bit  whiter,  and  her  eye  looked  half 
scared,  and  her  lip  trembled  a  bit,  and  she  quietly 
said:  *'  I  know  what  that  means.  There's  some- 
thing coming  to  the  old  church.  Don't  bring  me 
any  dinner.  I  must  spend  this  afternoon  in 
prayer."  And  so  she  did.  And  that  night  in  the 
service  that  startling  change  came. 

Then  to  Mr.  Moody  himself,  as  he  sought  her 
out  in  her  sick  room,  she  told  how  nearly  two 
years  before  there  came  into  her  hands  a  copy  of 
a  paper  published  in  Chicago  called  the  Watch- 
man that  contained  a  talk  by  Mr.  Moody  in  one 
of  the  Chicago  meetings,  Farwell  Hall  meetings, 
I  think.  All  she  knew  was  that  talk  that  made 
her  heart  burn,  and  there  was  the  name  M-o-o-d-y. 
And  she  was  led  to  pray  that  God  would  send 
that  man  into  their  church  in  London.  As  simple 
a  prayer  as  that. 

And  the  months  went  by,  and  a  year,  and  over; 
still  she  prayed.  Nobody  knew  of  it  but  herself 
and  God.  No  change  seemed  to  come.  Still  she 
prayed.  And  of  course  her  prayer  wrought  its 
purpose.  Every  Spirit-suggested  prayer  does. 
And  that  is  the  touchstone  of  true  prayer. 
And  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  that  man  of  God 
over  to  the  seaboard,  and  across  the  water  and 
into  London,  and  into  their  church.  Then  a  bit 
of  special  siege-prayer,  a  sort  of  last  charge  up 


The  "How"  of  Method  147 

the  steep  hill,  and  that  night  the  victory 
came. 

Do  you  not  believe — I  believe  without  a  doubt, 
that  some  day  when  the  night  is  gone,  and  the 
morning  light  comes  up,  and  we  know  as  we  are 
known,  that  we  shall  find  that  the  largest  single 
factor,  in  that  ten  days'  work,  and  in  the  changing 
of  tens  of  thousands  of  lives  under  Moody's  lead- 
ership is  that  woman  in  her  praying.  Not  the 
only  factor,  mind  you.  Moody  a  man  of  rare 
leadership,  and  consecration,  and  hundreds  of 
faithful  ministers  and  others  rallying  to  his  sup- 
port. But  behind  and  beneath  Moody  and  the 
others,  and  to  be  reckoned  with  as  first  this 
woman's  praying. 

Yet  I  do  not  know  her  name.  I  know  Mr. 
Moody's  name.  I  could  name  scores  of  faithful 
men  associated  with  him  in  his  campaigns,  but 
the  name  of  this  one  in  whom  humanly  is  the 
secret  of  it  all  I  do  not  know.  Ah !  It  is  a  secret 
service.  We  do  not  know  who  the  great  ones 
are.  They  tell  me  she  is  living  yet  in  the  north 
end  of  London,  and  still  praying.  Shall  we  pray! 
Shall  we  not  pray!  If  something  else  must  slip 
out,  something  important,  shall  we  not  see  to  it 
that  intercession  has  first  place  J 

Making  God's  Purpose  Our  Prayer. 

With  that  thought  in  mind  let  me  this  even- 
ing suggest  a  bit  of  how  to  pray.  As  simple  a  sub- 
ject as  that:  how  to  pray:  the  how  of  method. 


148  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

The  first  thing  in  prayer  is  to^find  God's  pur- 
pose, the  trend,  the  swing  of  it;  the  second  thing 
to  make  that  purpose  our  prayer.  We  want  to 
find  out  what  God  is  thinking,  and  then  to  claim 
that  that  shall  be  done.  God  is  seated  up  yonder 
on  the  throne.  Jesus  Christ  is  sitting  by  His  side 
glorified.  Everywhere  in  the  universe  God's  will 
is  being  done  except  in  this  corner,caIled  the  earth, 
and  its  atmosphere,  and  that  bit  of  the  heavens 
above  it  where  Satan's  headquarters  are. 

It  has  been  done  down  here  by  one  person — 
Jesus.  He  came  here  to  this  prodigal  planet  and 
did  God's  will  perfectly.  He  went  away.  And 
He  has  sought  and  seeks  to  have  men  down  upon 
the  earth  so  fully  in  touch  with  Himself  that  He 
may  do  in  them  and  through  them  just  what  He 
will.  That  He  may  reproduce  Himself  in  these 
men,  and  have  God's  will  done  again  down  on 
the  earth.  Now  prayer  is  this:  finding  out  God's 
purpose  for  our  lives,  and  for  the  earth  and  in- 
sisting that  that  shall  be  done  here.  The  great 
thing  then  is  to  find  out  and  insist  upon  God's 
will.  And  the  "how"  of  method  in  prayer  is 
concerned  with  that. 

Many  a  time  I  have  met  with  a  group  of  per- 
sons for  prayer.  Various  special  matters  for 
prayer  are  brought  up.  Here  is  this  man,  need- 
ing prayer,  and  this  particular  matter,  and  this 
one,  and  this.  Then  we  kneel  and  pray.  And  I 
have  many  a  time  thought — not  critically  in  a  bad 
sense — as  I   have  listened  to  their  prayers,   as 


The  "  How  "  of  Method  149 

though  this  is  the  prayer  I  must  offer: — ''  Blessed 
Holy  Spirit,  Thou  knowest  this  man,  and  what 
the  lacking  thing  is  in  him.  There  is  trouble 
there.  Thou  knowest  this  sick  woman,  and  what 
the  difficulty  is  there.  This  problem,  and  what 
the  hindrance  is  in  it.  Blessed  Spirit,  pray  in  me 
the  prayer  Thou  art  praying  for  this  man,  and 
this  thing,  and  this  one.  The  prayer  Thou  art 
praying,  I  pray  that,  in  Jesus'  name.  Thy  will  be 
done  here  under  these  circumstances." 

Sometimes  I  feel  clear  as  to  the  particular 
prayer  to  offer,  but  many  a  time  I  am  puzzled  to 
know.  I  put  this  fact  with  this,  but  I  may  not 
know  all  the  facts.  I  know  this  man  who  evi- 
dently needs  praying  for,  a  Christian  man  per- 
haps, his  mental  characteristics,  his  conceptions 
of  things,  the  kind  of  a  will  he  has,  but  there 
may  be  some  fact  in  there  that  I  do  not  know, 
that  seriously  affects  the  whole  difficulty.  And 
I  am  compelled  to  fall  back  on  this:  I  don't  know 
how  to  pray  as  I  ought.  But  the  Spirit  within 
me  will  make  intercession  for  this  man  as  I  allow 
Him  to  have  free  swing  in  me  as  the  medium  of 
His  prayer.  And  He  who  is  listening  above  as 
He  hears  His  will  for  this  man  being  repeated 
down  on  the  battle-field  will  recognize  His  own 
purpose,  of  course.  And  so  that  thing  will  be 
working  out  because  of  Jesus'  victory  over  the 
evil  one. 

But  I  may  become  so  sensitive  to  the  Spirit's 
thoughts  and  presence,  that  I  shall  know  more 


150  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

keenly  and  quickly  what  to  pray  for.  In  so  far 
as  I  do  I  become  a  more  skillful  partner  of  His  on 
the  earth  in  getting  God's  will  done. 

The  Trysting  Place. 

There  are  six  suggestions  here  on  how  to  pray. 
First — we  nttd  time  for  prayer,  unhurried  time, 
daily  time,  time  enough  to  forget  about  how 
much  time  it  is.  I  do  not  mean  now:  rising  in  the 
morning  at  the  very  last  moment,  and  dressing, 
it  may  be  hurriedly,  and  then  kneeling  a  few 
moments  so  as  to  feel  easier  in  mind:  not  that. 
I  do  not  mean  the  last  thing  at  night  when  you 
are  jaded  and  fagged,  and  almost  between  the 
sheets,  and  then  remember  and  look  up  a  verse 
and  kneel  a  few  moments:  not  that.  That  is 
good  so  far  as  it  goes.  I  am  not  criticising  that. 
Better  sweeten  and  sandwich  the  day  with  all  of 
that  sort  you  can  get  in.  But  just  now  I  mean 
this:  taking,  time  when  the  mind  is  fresh  and 
keen,  and  the  spirit  sensitive,  to  thoughtfully 
pray.  We  haven't  time.  Life  is  so  crowded. 
It  must  be  taken  from  something  else,  some- 
thing important,  but  still  less  important  than 
this. 

Sacrifice  is  the  continual  law  of  life.  The  im- 
portant thing  must  be  sacrificed  to  the  more  im- 
portant. One  needs  to  cultivate  a  mature  judg- 
ment, or  his  strength  will  be  frizzled  away  in  the 
less  important  details,  and  the  greater  thing  go 
undone,  or  be  done  poorly  with  the  fag-ends  of 


The  ''How"  of  Method  151 

strength.  If  we  would  become  skilled  interces- 
sors, and  know  how  to  pray  simply  enough,  we 
must  take  quiet  time  daily  to  get  off  alone. 

The  second  suggestion:  we  need  a  place  for 
prayer.  Oh!  you  can  pray  anywhere,  on  the 
street,  in  the  store,  travelling,  measuring  dry 
goods,  hands  in  dishwater, — where  not.  But 
you  are  not  likely  to  unless  you  have  been  off  in 
some  quiet  place  shut  in  alone  with  God.  The 
Master  said:  "Enter  into  thine  inner  chamber, 
and  having  shut  thy  door":  that  door  is  impor- 
tant. It  shuts  out,  and  it  shuts  in.  **  Pray  to 
thy  Father  who  is  in  secret."  God  is  here  in  this 
shut-in  spot.  One  must  get  alone  to  find  out  that 
he  never  is  alone.  The  more  alone  we  are  as  far 
as  men  are  concerned  the  least  alone  we  are  so 
far  as  God  is  concerned. 

The  quiet  place  and  time  are  needful  to  train 
the  ears  for  keen  hearing.  A  mother  will  hear 
the  faintest  cry  of  her  babe  just  awaking.  It  is 
up-stairs  perhaps;  the  tiniest  bit  of  a  sound 
comes;  nobody  else  hears;  but  quick  as  a  flash 
the  mother's  hands  are  held  quiet,  the  head  alert, 
then  she  is  off.  Her  ears  are  trained  beyond  any- 
body's else;  love's  training.  We  need  trained 
ears.  A  quiet  place  shuts  out  the  outer  sounds, 
and  gives  the  inner  ear  a  chance  to  learn  other 
sounds. 

A  man  was  standing  in  a  telephone  booth  try- 
ing to  talk,  but  could  not  make  out  the  message. 
He  kept  saying,  "I  can't  hear,  I  can't  hear." 


152  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

The  other  man  by  and  by  said  sharply,  "  If  you'll 
shut  that  door  you  can  hear."  His  door  was 
shut  and  he  could  hear  not  only  the  man's  voice 
but  the  street  and  store  noises  too.  Some  folks 
have  gotten  their  hearing  badly  confused  because 
their  doors  have  not  been  shut  enough.  Man's 
voice  and  God's  voice  get  mixed  in  their  ears. 
They  cannot  tell  between  them.  The  bother  is 
partly  with  the  door.  If  you'll  shut  that  door 
you  can  hear. 

The  third  suggestion  needs  much  emphasis  to- 
day :  give  the  Book  of  God  its  place  in  prayer. 
Prayer  is  not  talking  to  God — simply.  It  is  lis- 
tening first,  then  talking.  Prayer  needs  three 
organs  of  the  head,  an  ear,  a  tongue  and  an  eye. 
First  an  ear  to  hear  what  God  says,  then  a  tongue 
to  speak,  then  an  eye  to  look  out  for  the  result. 
Bible  study  is  the  listening  side  of  prayer.  The 
purpose  of  God  comes  in  through  the  ear,  passes 
through  the  heart  taking  on  the  tinge  of  your 
personality,  and  goes  out  at  the  tongue  as  prayer. 
It  is  pathetic  what  a  time  God  has  getting  a  hear- 
ing down  here.  He  is  ever  speaking  but  even 
where  there  may  be  some  inclination  to  hear  the 
sounds  of  earth  are  choking  in  our  ears  the  sound 
of  His  voice.  God  speaks  in  His  Word.  The 
most  we  know  of  God  comes  to  us  here.  This 
Book  is  God  in  print.  It  was  inspired,  and  it  is 
inspired.  God  Himself  speaks  in  this  Book. 
That  puts  it  in  a  list  by  itself,  quite  apart  from 
all  others.    Studying  it  keenly,  intelligently,  rev- 


The  "How"  of  Method  153 

erently  will  reveal  God's  great  will.     What  He 
says  will  utterly  change  what  you  will  say. 

Our  Prayer  Teacher. 

The  /ourth  suggestion  is  this :  Let  the  Spirit 
teach  you  how  to  pray.  The  more  you  pray  the 
more  you  will  find  yourself  saying  to  yourself, 
"  I  don't  know  how  to  pray."  Well  God  under- 
stands that.  Paul  knew  that  out  of  his  own  ex- 
perience before  he  wrote  it  down.  And  God  has 
a  plan  to  cover  our  need  there.  There  is  One 
who  is  a  master  intercessor.  He  understands 
praying  perfectly.  He  is  the  Spirit  of  prayer.  God 
has  sent  Him  down  to  live  inside  you  and  me, 
partly  for  this,  to  teach  us  the  fine  art  of  prayer. 
The  suggestion  is  this:  let  Him  teach  you. 

When  you  go  alone  in  the  quiet  time  and  place 
with  the  Book  quietly  pray:  ** blessed  Prayer- 
Spirit,  Master-Spirit,  teach  me  how  to  pray,"  and 
He  will.  Do  not  be  nervous,  or  agitated,  wonder- 
ing if  you  will  understand.  Study  to  be  quiet; 
mind  quiet,  body  quiet.  Be  still  and  listen.  Re- 
member Luther's  version  of  David's  words,*  "  Be 
silent  to  God,  and  let  Him  mould  thee." 

You  will  find  your  praying  changing.  You 
will  talk  more  simply,  like  a  man  transacting 
business  or  a  child  asking,  though  of  course  with 
a  reverence  and  a  deepness  of  feeling  not  in  those 
things.  You  will  quit  asking  for  some  things. 
Some  of  the  old  forms  of  prayer  will  drop  from 
'  Psalm  37  ;  7. 


154  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

your  lips  likely  enough.  You  will  use  fewer 
words,  maybe,  but  they  will  be  spoken  with  a 
quiet  absolute  faith  that  this  thing  you  are  asking 
is  being  worked  out. 

This  thing  of  letting  the  Spirit  teach  must  come 
first  in  one's  praying,  and  remain  to  the  last,  and 
continue  all  along  as  the  leading  dominant  factor. 
He  is  a  Spirit  of  prayer  peculiarly.  The  highest 
law  of  the  Christian  life  is  obedience  to  the  lead- 
ing of  the  Holy  Spirit.  There  needs  to  be  a 
cultivated  judgment  in  reading  His  leading,  and 
not  mistaking  our  haphazard  thoughts  as  His 
voice.  He  should  be  allowed  to  teach  us  how  to 
pray  and  more,  to  dominate  our  praying.  The 
whole  range  and  intensity  of  the  spirit  conflict 
is  under  His  eye.  He  is  God's  General  on  the 
field  of  action.  There  come  crises  in  the  battle 
when  the  turn  of  the  tide  wavers.  He  knows 
when  a  bit  of  special  praying  is  needed  to  turn 
the  tide  and  bring  victory.  So  there  needs  to  be 
special  seasons  of  persistent  prayer,  a  continuing 
until  victory  is  assured.  Obey  His  promptings. 
Sometimes  there  comes  an  impulse  to  pray,  or  to 
ask  another  to  pray.  And  we  think,  "Why,  I 
have  just  been  praying,"  or,  "  he  does  pray  about 
this  anyway.  It  is  not  necessary  to  pray  again. 
I  do  not  just  like  to  suggest  it."  Better  obey  the 
impulse  quietly,  with  fewest  words  of  expla- 
nation to  the  other  one  concerned,  or  no  words 
beyond  simply  the  request. 

Let  Him,  this  wondrous  Holy  Spirit  teach  you 


The  "How"  of  Method  155 

how  to  pray.  It  will  take  time.  You  may  be  a 
bit  set  in  your  way,  but  if  you  will  just  yield 
and  patiently  wait,  He  will  teach  what  to  pray, 
suggest  definite  tilings,  and  often  the  very  lan- 
guage of  prayer. 

You  will  notice  that  the  chief  purpose  of  these 
four  suggestions  is  to  learn  God's  will.  The 
quiet  place,  the  quiet  time,  the  Book,  the  Spirit — 
this  is  the  schoolroom  as  Andrew  Murray  would 
finely  put  it.  Here  we  learn  His  will.  Learning 
that  makes  one  eager  to  have  it  done,  and  breathes 
anew  the  longing  prayer  that  it  may  be  done. 

There  is  a  fine  word  much  used  in  the  Psalms, 
and  in  Isaiah  for  this  sort  of  thing — waiting. 
Over  and  over  again  that  is  the  word  used  for 
that  contact  with  God  which  reveals  to  us  His 
will,  and  imparts  to  us  anew  His  desires.  It  is  a 
word  full  of  richest  and  deepest  meaning.  Wait- 
ing is  not  an  occasional  nor  a  hurried  thing.  It 
means  steadfastness,  that  is  holding  on;  patience, 
that  is  holding  back;  expectancy,  that  is  holding 
the  face  up  to  see;  obedience,  that  is  holding 
one's  self  in  readiness  to  go  or  do;  it  means 
listening,  that  is  holding  quiet  and  still  so  as  to 
hear. 

The  Power  of  a  Name. 

The  fifth  suggestion  has  already  been  referred 
to,  but  should  be  repeated  here.  Prayer  must  be 
in  Jesus[  name.  The  relationship  of  prayer  is 
through  Jesus.    And  the  prayer  itself  musi;  be 


156  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

offered  in  His  name,  because  the  whole  strength 
of  the  case  lies  in  Jesus.  I  recall  distinctly  a  cer- 
tain section  of  this  country  where  I  was  for 
awhile,  and  very  rarely  did  I  hear  Jesus'  name 
used  in  prayer.  I  heard  men,  that  I  knew  must  be 
good  men,  praying  in  church,  in  prayer-meeting 
and  elsewhere  with  no  mention  of  Jesus.  Let  us 
distinctly  bear  in  mind  that  we  have  no  standing 
with  God  except  through  Jesus. 

If  the  keenest  lawyer  of  London,  who  knew 
more  of  American  law,  and  of  Illinois  statute  and 
of  Chicago  ordinance — suppose  such  a  case — 
were  to  come  here,  could  he  plead  a  case  in  your 
court-house  ?  you  know  he  could  not.  He  would 
have  no  legal  standing  here.  Now  you  and  I 
have  no  standing  at  yonder  bar.  We  are  dis- 
barred through  sin.  Only  as  we  come  through 
one  who  has  recognized  standing  there  can  we 
come. 

But  turn  that  fact  around.  As  we  do  come  in 
Jesus'  name,  it  is  the  same  as  though  Jesus 
prayed.  It  is  the  same  as  though — let  me  be  say- 
ing it  very  softly  so  it  may  seem  very  reverent — 
as  though  Jesus  put  His  arm  in  yours  and  took 
you  up  to  the  Father,  and  said,  "Father,  here  is 
a  friend  of  mine;  we're  on  good  terms.  Please 
give  him  anything  he  asks,  for  My  sake."  And 
the  Father  would  quickly  bend  over  and  gra- 
ciously say,  "  What'll  you  have  ?  You  may  have 
anything  you  ask  when  My  Son  asks  for  it." 
That  is  the  practical  effect  of  asking  in  Jesus'  name. 


The  "How"  of  Method  157 

But  I  am  very,  very  clear  of  this,  and  I  keep 
swinging  back  to  it,  that  in  the  ultimate  analy- 
sis the  force  of  using  Jesus'  name  is  that  He  is 
the  victor  over  the  traitor  prince.  Prayer  is  re- 
peating the  Victor's  name  into  the  ears  of  Satan 
and  insisting  upon  his  retreat.  As  one  prays 
persistently  in  Jesus'  name,  the  evil  one  must  go. 
Reluctantly,  angrily,  he  must  loosen  his  clutches, 
and  go  back. 

The  Birthplace  of  Faith. 

-  The  sixth  suggestion  is  a  familiar  one,  and  yet 
one  much  misunderstood.  Prayer  must  b&  in 
faith.  But  please  note  that  faith  here  is  not  be- 
lieving that  God  can,  but  that  He  will.  It  is 
kneeling  and  making  the  prayer,  and  then  say- 
ing, "Father,!  thank  Thee  for  this;  that  it  will 
be  so,  I  thank  Thee."  Then  rising  and  going 
about  your  duties,  saying,  ''that  thing  is  settled." 
Going  again  and  again,  and  repeating  the  prayer 
with  the  thanks,  and  then  saying  as  you  go  off, 
''that  matter  is  assured."  Not  going  repeatedly 
to  persuade  God.  But  because  prayer  is  the  de- 
ciding factor  in  a  spirit  conflict  and  each  prayer 
is  like  a  fresh  blow  between  the  eyes  of  the 
enemy,  a  fresh  broadside  from  your  fleet  upon 
the  fort. 

"Well,"  some  one  will  say,  "now  you  are 
getting  that  keyed  up  rather  high.  Can  we  all 
have  faith  like  that  ?  Can  a  man  make  himself 
believe?"    There  should  be  no  unnatural  me- 


158  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

chanical  insisting  that  you  do  believe.  Some 
earnest  people  make  a  mistake  there.  And  we 
will  not  all  have  faith  like  that.  That  is  quite 
true,  and  I  can  easily  tell  you  why.  The  faith 
that  believes  that  God  will  do  what  you  ask  is 
not  born  in  a  hurry;  it  is  not  born  in  the  dust  of 
the  street,  and  the  noise  of  the  crowd.  But  I 
can  tell  where  that  faith  will  have  a  birthplace 
and  keep  growing  stronger:  in  every  heart  that 
takes  quiet  time  off  habitually  with  God,  and 
listens  to  His  voice  in  His  word.  Into  that  heart 
will  come  a  simple  strong  faith  that  the  thing  it 
is  led  to  ask  shall  be  accomplished. 

That  faith  has  four  simple  characteristics. 
It  is  intelligent.  It  finds  out  what  God's  will  is. 
Faith  is  never  contrary  to  reason.  Sometimes  it 
is  a  bit  higher  up;  the  reasoning  process  has  not 
yet  reached  up  to  it.  Second,  it  \s  obedient.  It 
fits  its  life  into  God's  will.  There  is  apt  to  be  a 
stiff  rub  here  all  the  time.  Then  it  is  expectant. 
It  looks  out  for  the  result.  It  bows  down  upon 
the  earth,  but  sends  a  man  to  keep  an  eye  on  the 
sea.  And  then  it  is  persistent.  It  hangs  on.  It 
says,  **Go  again  seven  times;  seventy  times 
seven."  It  reasons  that  having  learned  God's 
will,  and  knowing  that  He  does  not  change,  the 
delay  must  be  caused  by  the  third  person,  the 
enemy,  and  that  stubborn  persistence  in  the 
Victor's  name  routs  him,  and  leaves  a  clear  field. 


The  Listening  Side  of  Prayer 


A  Trained  Ear. 

In  prayer  the  ear  is  an  organ  of  first  importance. 
It  is  of  equal  importance  with  the  tongue,  but 
must  be  named  first.  For  the  ear  leads  the  way 
to  the  tongue.  The  child  hears  a  word  before  it 
speaks  it.  Through  the  ear  comes  the  use  of  the 
tongue.  Where  the  faculties  are  normal  the 
tongue  is  trained  only  through  the  ear.  This  is 
nature's  method.  The  mind  is  moulded  largely 
through  the  ear  and  eye.  It  reveals  itself,  and 
asserts  itself  largely  through  the  tongue.  What 
the  ear  lets  in,  the  mind  works  over,  and  the 
tongue  gives  out. 

This  is  the  order  in  Isaiah's  fiftieth  chapter'  in 
those  words,  prophetic  of  Jesus.  *'The  Lord 
God  hath  given  me  the  tongue  of  them  that  are 
taught.  ...  He  wakeneth  my  ear  to  hear  as 
they  that  are  taught."  Here  the  taught  tongue 
came  through  the  awakened  ear.  One  reason 
why  so  many  of  us  do  not  have  taught  tongues 
is  because  we  give  God  so  little  chance  at  our 
ears. 

*  Isaiah  50 : 4. ' 
159 


l6o  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

It  is  a  striking  fact  that  the  men  who  have  been 
mightiest  in  prayer  have  known  God  well.  They 
have  seemed  peculiarly  sensitive  to  Him,  and  to 
be  overawed  with  the  sense  of  His  love  and  His 
greatness.  There  are  three  of  the  Old  Testament 
characters  who  are  particularly  mentioned  as  be- 
ing mighty  in  prayer.  Jeremiah  tells  that  when 
God  spoke  to  him  about  the  deep  perversity 
of  that  nation  He  exclaimed,  "Though  Moses  and 
Samuel  stood  before  Me  My  heart  could  not  be 
towards  this  people."'  When  James  wants  an 
illustration  of  a  man  of  prayer  for  the  scattered 
Jews,  he  speaks  of  Elijah,  and  of  one  particular 
crisis  in  his  life,  the  praying  on  Carmel's  tip-top. 
These  three  men  are  Israel's  great  men  in  the 
great  crises  of  its  history.  Moses  was  the  maker 
and  moulder  of  the  nation.  Samuel  was  the  pa- 
tient teacher  who  introduced  a  new  order  of  things 
in  the  national  life.  Elijah  was  the  rugged  leader 
when  the  national  worship  of  Jehovah  was  about 
to  be  officially  overthrown.  These  three  men, 
the  maker,  the  teacher,  the  emergency  leader  are 
singled  out  in  the  record  as  peculiarly  men  of 
prayer. 

Now  regarding  these  men  it  is  most  interesting 
to  observe  what  listeners  they  were  to  God's 
voice.  Their  ears  were  trained  early  and  trained 
long,  until  great  acuteness  and  sensitiveness  to 
God's  voice  was  the  result.  Special  pains  seem  to 
have  been  taken  with  the  first  man,  the  nation's 

'Jeremiah  15:  i. 


The  Listening  Side  of  Prayer      i6l 

greatest  giant,  and  history's  greatest  jurist.  There 
were  two  distinct  stages  in  the  training  of  his 
ears.  First  there  were  the  forty  years  of  solitude 
in  the  desert  sands,  alone  with  the  sheep, 
and  the  stars,  and— God.  His  ears  were  being 
trained  by  silence.  The  bustle  and  confusion  of 
Egypt's  busy  life  were  being  taken  out  of  his 
ears.  How  silent  are  God's  voices.  How  few 
men  are  strong  enough  to  be  able  to  endure  si- 
lence. For  in  silence  God  is  speaking  to  the 
inner  ear. 

"  Let  us  then  labour  for  an  inward  stillness — 
An  inward  stillness  and  an  inward  healing ; 
That  perfect  silence  where  the  lips  and  heart 
Are  still,  and  we  no  longer  entertain 
Our  own  imperfect  thoughts  and  vain  opinions, 
But  God  alone  speaks  in  us,  and  we  wait 
In  singleness  of  heart,  that  we  may  know 
His  will,  and  in  the  silence  of  our  spirits. 
That  we  may  do  His  will,  and  do  that  only."  • 

A  gentleman  was  asked  by  an  artist  friend  of 
some  note  to  come  to  his  home,  and  see  a  paint- 
ing just  finished.  He  went  at  the  time  appointed, 
was  shown  by  the  attendant  into  a  room  which 
was  quite  dark,  and  left  there.  He  was  much 
surprised,  but  quietly  waited  developments. 
After  perhaps  fifteen  minutes  his  friend  came 
into  the  room  with  a  cordial  greeting,  and  took 
him  up  to  the  studio  to  see  the  painting,  which 

*  Longfellow. 


l62  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

was  greatly  admired.  Before  he  left  the  artist 
said  laughingly,  "I  suppose  you  thought  it  queer 
to  be  left  in  that  dark  room  so  long."  "Yes," 
the  visitor  said,  "I  did."  "Well,"  his  friend  re- 
plied, "I  knew  that  if  you  came  into  my  studio 
with  the  glare  of  the  street  in  your  eyes  you 
could  not  appreciate  the  fine  colouring  of  the  pic- 
ture. So  I  left  you  in  the  dark  room  till  the  glare 
had  worn  out  of  your  eyes." 

The  first  stage  of  Moses'  prayer-training  was 
wearing  the  noise  of  Egypt  out  of  his  ears  so  he 
could  hear  the  quiet  fine  tones  of  God's  voice. 
He  who  would  become  skilled  in  prayer  must  take 
a  silence  course  in  the  University  of  Arabia.  Then 
came  the  second  stage.  Forty  years  were  fol- 
lowed by  forty  days,  twice  over,  of  listening  to 
God's  speaking  voice  up  in  the  mount.  Such  an 
ear-course  as  that  made  a  skilled  famous  inter- 
cessor. 

Samuel  had  an  earlier  course  than  Moses. 
While  yet  a  child  before  his  ears  had  been  dulled 
by  earth  sounds  they  were  tuned  to  the  hearing 
of  God's  voice.  The  child  heart  and  ear  natu- 
rally open  upward.  They  hear  easily  and  believe 
readily.  The  roadway  of  the  ear  has  not  been 
beaten  down  hard  by  much  travel.  God's  rains 
and  dews  have  made  it  soft,  and  impressionable. 
This  child's  ear  was  quickly  trained  to  recognize 
God's  voice.  And  the  tented  Hebrew  nation 
soon  came  to  know  that  there  was  a  man  in  their 
midst  to  whom  God  was  talking.    O,  to  keep 


The  Listening  Side  of  Prayer       163 

the  heart  and  inner  ear  of  a  child  as  mature  years 
come! 

Of  the  third  of  these  famous  intercessors  little 
is  known  except  of  the  few  striking  events  in 
which  he  figured.  Of  these,  the  scene  that  finds 
its  climax  in  the  opening  on  Carmel's  top  of  the 
rain-windows,  occupies  by  far  the  greater  space. 
And  it  is  notable  that  the  beginning  of  that  long 
eighteenth  chapter  of  first  Kings  which  tells  of 
the  Carmel  conflict  begins  with  a  message  to 
Elijah  from  God:  **The  word  of  the  Lord  came  to 
Elijah:  .  .  .  I  will  send  rain  upon  the  earth." 
That  was  the  foundation  of  that  persistent  pray- 
ing and  sevenfold  watching  on  the  mountain- 
top.  First  the  ear  heard,  then  the  voice  persist- 
ently claimed,  and  the  eye  expectantly  looked. 
First  the  voice  of  God,  then  the  voice  of  man. 
That  is  the  true  order.  Tremendous  results 
always  follow  that  combination. 

Through  the  Book  to  God. 

With  us  the  training  is  of  the  inner  ear.  And 
its  first  training,  after  the  early  childhood  stage  is 
passed,  must  usually  be  through  the  eye.  What 
God  has  spoken  to  others  has  been  written  down 
for  us.  We  hear  through  our  eyes.  The  eye 
opens  the  way  to  the  inner  ear.  God  spoke  in 
His  word.  He  is  still  speaking  in  it  and  through 
it.  The  whole  thought  here  is  to  get  to  know 
God.  He  reveals  Himself  in  the  word  that 
comes  from  His  own  lips,  and  through  His  mes- 


164  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

sengers*  lips.  He  reveals  Himself  in  His  dealings 
with  men.  Every  incident  and  experience  of 
these  pages  is  a  mirror  held  up  to  God's  face.  In 
them  we  may  come  to  see  Him. 

This  is  studying  the  Bible  not  for  the  Bible's 
sake  but  for  the  purpose  of  knowing  God.  The 
object  aimed  at  is  not  the  Book  but  the  God  re- 
vealed in  the  Book.  A  man  may  go  to  college 
and  take  lectures  on  the  English  Bible,  and  in- 
crease his  knowledge,  and  enrich  his  vocabulary, 
and  go  away  with  utterly  erroneous  ideas  of  God. 
He  may  go  to  a  law  school  and  study  the  codes 
of  the  first  great  jurist,  and  get  a  clear  under- 
standing and  firm  grasp  of  the  Mosaic  enact- 
ments, as  he  must  do  to  lay  the  foundation  of 
legal  training,  yet  he  may  remain  ignorant  of 
God. 

He  may  even  go  to  a  Bible  school,  and  be  able 
to  analyze  and  synthesize,  give  outlines  of 
books,  and  contents  of  chapters  and  much 
else  of  that  invaluable  and  indispensable  sort 
of  knowledge  and  yet  fail  to  understand 
God  and  His  marvellous  love-will.  It  is  not 
the  Book  with  which  we  are  concerned  here 
but  the  God  through  the  Book.  Not  to  learn 
truth  but  through  truth  to  know  Him  who  is 
Himself  the  Truth. 

There  is  a  fascinating  bit  of  story  told  of  one 
of  David's  mighty  men.'  One  day  there  was  a 
sudden  attack  upon  the  camp  by  the  Philistines 

1  2  Samuel  23 : 9,  10. 


The  Listening  Side  of  Prayer      165 

when  the  fighting  men  were  all  away.  This 
man  alone  was  there.  The  Philistines  were  the 
traditional  enemy.  The  very  word  '*  Philistines  " 
was  one  to  strike  terror  to  the  Hebrew  heart. 
But  this  man  was  reckoned  one  of  the  first  three 
of  David's  mighty  men  because  of  his  conduct 
that  day.  He  quietly,  quickly  gripped  his  sword 
and  fought  the  enemy  single-handed.  Up  and 
down,  left  and  right,  hip  and  thigh  he  smote 
with  such  terrific  earnestness  and  drive  that  the 
enemy  turned  and  fled.  And  we  are  told  that 
the  muscles  of  his  hand  became  so  rigid  around 
the  handle  of  his  sword  that  he  could  not  tell 
by  the  feeling  where  his  hand  stopped,  and  the 
sword  began.  Man  and  sword  were  one  that 
day  in  the  action  of  service  against  the  nation's 
enemy.  When  we  so  absorb  this  Book,  and  the 
Spirit  of  Him  who  is  its  life  that  people  cannot 
tell  the  line  of  division  between  the  man,  and  the 
God  within  the  man,  then  shall  we  have  might- 
iest power  as  God's  intercessors  in  defeating  the 
foe.  God  and  man  will  be  as  one  in  the  action 
of  service  against  the  enemy. 

A  Spirit  Illumined  Mind. 

I  want  to  make  some  simple  suggestions  for 
studying  this  Book  so  as  to  get  to  God  through 
it.  There  will  be  the  emphasis  of  doubling  back 
on  one's  tracks  here.  For  some  of  the  things 
that  should  be  said  have  already  been  said  with  a 
different  setting.    First  there  must  be  the  time 


l66  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

element.  One  must  get  at  least  a  half  hour  daily 
when  the  mind  is  fresh.  A  tired  mind  does  not 
readily  absorb.  This  should  be  persisted  in  until 
there  is  a  habitual  spending  of  at  least  that  much 
time  daily  over  the  Book,  with  a  spirit  at  leisure 
from  all  else,  so  it  can  take  in.  Then  the  time 
should  be  given  to  the  Book  itself.  If  other  books 
are  consulted  and  read  as  they  will  be  let  that  be 
after  the  reading  of  this  Book.  Let  God  talkto  you 
direct,  rather  than  through  somebody  else.  Give 
Him  first  chance  at  your  ears.  This  Book  in  the 
central  place  of  your  table,  the  others  grouped 
about  it.     First  time  given  to  it. 

A  third  suggestion  brings  out  the  circle  of  this 
work.  Read  prayerfully.  We  learn  how  to  pray 
by  reading  prayerfully.  This  Book  does  not  re- 
veal its  sweets  and  strength  to  the  keen  mind 
merely,  but  to  the  Spirit  enlightened  mind.  All 
the  mental  keenness  possible,  with  the  bright 
light  of  the  Spirifs  illumination — that  is  the  open 
sesame.  I  have  sometimes  sought  the  meaning 
of  some  passage  from  a  keen  scholar  who  could 
explain  the  orientalisms,  the  fine  philological 
distinctions,  the  most  accurate  translations,  and 
all  of  that,  who  yet  did  not  seem  to  know  the 
simple  spiritual  meaning  of  the  words  being  dis- 
cussed. And  I  have  asked  the  same  question  of 
some  old  saint  of  God,  who  did  not  know 
Hebrew  from  a  hen's  tracks,  but  who  seemed  to 
sense  at  once  the  deep  spiritual  truth  taught. 
The  more  knowledge,  the  keener  the  mind,  the 


The  Listening  Side  of  Prayer      167 

better  //  illumined  by  the  Spirit  that  inspired 
these  writings. 

There  is  a  fourth  word  to  put  in  here.  We 
must  read  thoughtfully.  Thoughtfulness  is  in 
danger  of  being  a  lost  art.  Newspapers  are  so 
numerous,  and  literature  so  abundant,  that  we  are 
becoming  a  bright,  but  a  not  thoughtful  people. 
Often  the  stream  is  very  wide  but  has  no  depth. 
Fight  shallowness.  Insist  on  reading  thought- 
fully. A  very  suggestive  word  in  the  Bible  for 
this  is  ''meditate."  Run  through  and  pick  out 
this  word  with  its  variations.  The  word  under- 
neath that  English  word  means  to  mutter,  as 
though  a  man  were  repeating  something  over  and 
over  again,  as  he  turned  it  over  in  his  mind.  We 
have  another  word,  with  the  same  meaning,  not 
much  used  now — ruminate.  We  call  the  cow  a 
ruminant  because  she  chews  the  cud.  She  will 
spend  hours  chewing  the  cud,  and  then  give  us 
the  rich  milk  and  cream  and  butter  which  she  has 
extracted  from  her  food.  That  is  the  word  here 
— ruminate.  Chew  the  cud,  if  you  would  get 
the  richest  cream  and  butter  here. 

And  it  is  remarkable  how  much  chewing  this 
Book  of  God  will  stand,  in  comparison  with 
other  books.  You  chew  a  while  on  Tennyson, 
or  Browning,  or  Longfellow.  And  I  am  not  be- 
littling these  noble  writings.  I  have  my  own 
favourite  among  these  men.  But  they  do  not 
yield  the  richest  and  yet  richer  cream  found  here. 
This  Book  of  God  has  stood  more  of  that  sort  of 


i68  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

thing  than  any  other,  yet  it  is  the  freshest  book 
to  be  found  to-day.  You  read  a  passage  over 
the  two  hundredth  time  and  some  new  fine  bit 
of  meaning  comes  that  you  had  not  suspected  to 
be  there. 

There  is  a  fifth  suggestion,  that  is  easier  to 
make  than  to  follow.  Read  obediently.  As  the 
truth  appeals  to  your  conscience  let  it  change 
your  habit  and  life. 

"  Light  obeyed,  increased  light: 
Light  resisted,  bringeth  night. 
Who  shall  give  us  power  to  choose 
If  the  love  of  light  we  lose  ?  "  * 

Jesus  gives  the  law  of  knowledge  in  His 
famous  words,  "If  any  man  willeth  to  do  His 
will  he  shall  know  of  the  teaching."^  If  we  do 
what  we  know  to  do,  we  will  know  more.  If  we 
know  to  do,  and  hesitate  and  hold  back,  and  do 
not  obey,  the  inner  eye  will  surely  go  blind,  and 
the  sense  of  right  be  dulled  and  lost.  Obedience 
to  truth  is  the  eye  of  the  mind. 

Wide  Reading. 

Then  one  needs  to  have  a  plan  of  reading.  A 
consecutive  plan  gathers  up  the  fragments  of 
time  into  a  strong  whole.  Get  a  good  plan,  and 
stick  to  it.  Better  a  fairly  good  plan  faithfully 
followed,  than  the  best  plan  if  used  brokenly  or 
only  occasionally.     Probably  all  the  numerous 

» Joseph  Cook.  s  John  7  :  17. 


The  Listening  Side  of  Prayer      169 

methods  of  study  may  be  grouped  under  three 
general  heads,  wide  reading,  topical  study,  and 
textual.  We  all  do  some  textual  study  in  a  more 
or  less  small  way.  Digging  into  a  sentence  or 
verse  to  get  at  its  true  and  deep  meaning.  We 
all  do  some  topical  study  probably.  Gathering 
up  statements  on  some  one  subject,  studying  a 
character.  The  more  pretentious  name  is  Biblical 
Theology,  finding  and  arranging  all  that  is  taught 
in  the  whole  range  of  the  Bible  on  any  one 
theme. 

But  I  want  especially  to  urge  wide  readings  as 
being  the  basis  of  all  study.  It  is  the  simple,  the 
natural,  the  scientific  method.  It  is  adapted  to 
all  classes  of  persons.  I  used  to  suppose  it  was 
suited  best  to  college  students,  and  such;  but  I 
was  mistaken.  It  is  the  method  of  all  for  all.  It 
underlies  all  methods  of  getting  a  grasp  of  this 
wonderful  Book,  and  so  coming  to  as  full  and 
rounded  an  understanding  of  God  as  is  possible 
to  men  down  here. 

By  wide  reading  is  meant  a  rapid  reading 
through  regardless  of  verse,  chapter,  or  book 
divisions.  Reading  it  as  a  narrative,  a  story. 
As  you  would  read  any  book,  "The  Siege  of 
Pekin,"  "The  Story  of  an  Untold  Love,"  to  find 
out  the  story  told,  and  be  able  to  tell  to  another. 
There  will  be  a  reverence  of  spirit  with  this  book 
that  no  other  inspires,  but  with  the  same  intel- 
lectual method  of  running  through  to  see  what  is 
here,    No  book  is  30  fascinating  as  the  3ible 


lyo  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

when  read  this  way.  The  revised  version  is 
greatly  to  be  preferred  here  simply  because  it  is 
a  paragraph  version.  It  is  printed  more  like 
other  books.  Some  day  its  printed  form  will  be 
yet  more  modernized,  and  so  made  easier  to 
read. 

To  illustrate,  begin  at  the  first  of  Genesis,  and 
read  rapidly  through  by  the  page.  Do  not  try  to 
understand  all.  You  will  not.  Never  mind  that 
now.  just  push  on.  Do  not  try  to  remember 
all.  Do  not  think  about  that.  Let  stick  to  you 
what  will.  You  will  be  surprised  to  find  how 
much  will.  You  may  read  ten  or  twelve  pages 
in  your  first  half  hour.  Next  time  start  in  where 
you  left  off.  You  may  get  through  Genesis  in 
three  or  four  times,  or  less  or  more,  depending 
on  your  mood,  and  how  fast  your  habit  of  read- 
ing may  be.  You  will  find  a  whole  Bible  in 
Genesis.  A  wonderfully  fascinating  book  this 
Genesis.  For  love  stories,  plotting,  swift  action, 
beautiful  language  it  more  than  matches  the  pop- 
ular novel. 

But  do  not  stop  at  the  close  of  Genesis.  Push 
on  into  Exodus.  The  connection  is  immediate. 
It  is  the  same  book.  And  so  on  into  Leviticus. 
Now  do  not  try  to  understand  Leviticus  the  first 
time.  You  will  not  the  hundredth  time  perhaps. 
But  you  can  easily  group  its  contents:  these 
chapters  tell  of  the  offerings:  these  of  the  law  of 
offerings:  here  is  an  incident  put  in:  here  sani- 
tary regulations:  get  the  drift  of  the  book.     And 


The  Listening  Side  of  Prayer      171 

in  it  all  be  getting  the  picture  of  God — that  is  the 
one  point.     And  so  on  through. 

A  second  stage  of  this  wide  reading  is  fitting 
together  the  parts.  You  know  the  arrangement 
of  our  Bible  is  not  chronological  wholly,  but 
topical.  The  Western  mind  is  almost  a  slave  to 
chronological  order.  But  the  Oriental  was  not 
so  disturbed.  For  example,  open  your  Bible  to 
the  close  of  Esther,  and  again  at  the  close  of 
Malachi.  This  from  Genesis  to  Esther  we  all 
know  is  the  historical  section:  and  this  second 
section  the  poetical  and  prophetical  section. 
There  is  some  history  in  the  prophecy,  and  some 
prophecy  and  poetry  in  the  historical  part.  But 
in  the  main  this  first  is  historical,  and  this  second 
poetry  and  prophecy.  These  two  parts  belong 
together.  This  first  section  was  not  written, 
and  then  this  second.  The  second  belongs  in 
between  the  leaves  of  the  first.  It  was  taken  out 
and  put  by  itself  because  the  arrangement  of  the 
whole  Book  is  topical  rather  than  chronological. 

Now  the  second  stage  of  wide  reading  is  this: 
fit  these  parts  together.  Fit  the  poetry  and  the 
prophecy  into  the  history.  Do  it  on  your  own 
account,  as  though  it  had  never  been  done.  It 
has  been  done  much  better  than  you  will  do  it. 
And  you  will  make  some  mistakes.  You  can 
check  those  up  afterwards  by  some  of  the  schol- 
arly books.  And  you  cannot  tell  where  some 
parts  belong.  But  meanwhile  the  thing  to  note 
is  this:  you  are  absorbing  the  Book.     It  is  be- 


172  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

coming  a  part  of  you,  bone  of  your  bone,  and 
flesh  of  your  flesh,  mentally,  and  spiritually. 
You  are  drinking  in  its  spirit  in  huge  draughts. 
There  is  coming  a  new  vision  of  God,  which 
will  transform  radically  the  reverent  student.  In 
it  all  seek  to  acquire  the  historical  sense.  That 
is,  put  yourself  back  and  see  what  this  thing,  or 
this,  meant  to  these  men,  as  it  was  first  spoken, 
under  these  immediate  circumstances. 

And  so  push  on  into  the  New  Testament.  Do 
not  try  so  much  to  fit  the  four  gospels  into  one 
connected  story,  dovetailing  all  the  parts;  but 
try  rather  to  get  a  clear  grasp  of  Jesus'  move- 
ments those  few  years  as  told  by  these  four  men. 
Fit  Paul's  letters  into  the  book  of  Acts,  the  best 
you  can.  The  best  book  to  help  in  checking  up 
here  is  Conybeare  and  Howson's  "Life  and  Let- 
ters of  St.  Paul."  That  may  well  be  one  of  the 
books  in  your  collection. 

You  see  at  once  that  this  is  a  method  not 
for  a  month,  nor  for  a  year,  but  for  years.  The 
topical  and  textual  study  grow  naturally  out  of 
it.  And  meanwhile  you  are  getting  an  intelligent 
grasp  of  this  wondrous  classic,  you  are  absorbing 
the  finest  literature  in  the  English  tongue,  and 
infinitely  better  yet,  you  are  breathing  into  your 
very  being  a  new,  deep,  broad,  tender  concep- 
tion of  God. 

A  Mirror  Held  up  to  God's  Face. 
It  is  simply  fascinating  too,  to  find  what  light 


The  Listening  Side  of  Prayer      173 

floods  these  pages  as  they  are  read  back  in  their 
historical  setting,  so  far  as  that  is  possible.  For 
example  turn  to  the  third  Psalm,  fifth  verse, 

«*  I  laid  me  down  and  slept ; 
I  awaked ;  for  the  Lord  sustaineth  me." 

I  was  brought  up  in  an  old-fashioned  church 
where  that  was  sung.  I  knew  it  by  heart.  As 
a  boy  I  supposed  it  meant  that  night-time  had 
come,  and  David  was  sleepy;  he  had  his  devo- 
tions, and  went  to  bed,  and  had  a  good  night's 
sleep.     That  was  all  it  had  suggested  to  me. 

But  on  my  first  swing  through  of  the  wide 
reading,  my  eye  was  caught,  as  doubtless  yours 
has  often  been,  by  the  inscription  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  psalm:  "A  psalm  of  David,  when 
he  fled  from  Absalom  his  son.''  Quickly  I  turned 
back  to  Second  Samuel  to  find  that  story.  And  I 
got  this  picture.  David,  an  old  white-haired 
man,  hurrying  one  day,  barefooted,  out  of  his 
palace,  and  his  capital  city,  with  a  few  faithful 
friends,  fleeing  for  his  life,  because  Absalom  his 
favourite  son  was  coming  with  the  strength  of 
the  national  army  to  take  the  kingdom,  and  his  own 
father's  life.  And  that  night  as  the  king  lay  down 
to  try  to  catch  some  sleep,  it  was  upon  the  bare 
earth,  with  only  heaven's  blue  dome  for  a  roof. 
And  as  he  lay  he  could  almost  hear  the  steady 
tramp,  tramp  of  the  army,  over  the  hills,  seeking 
his  throne  and  his  life.     Let  me  ask  you,  hon- 


174  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

estly  now  ;  do  you  think  you  would  have  slept 
much  that  night  ?  I  fear  I  would  have  been 
tempted  sorely  to  lie  awake  thinking:  **here  I 
am,  an  old  man,  driven  from  my  kingdom,  and 
my  home,  by  my  own  boy,  that  I  have  loved 
better  than  my  own  life."  Do  you  think  you 
would  have  slept  much  ?    Tell  me. 

But  David  speaking  of  that  night  afterwards 
wrote  this  down: — "I  laid  me  down,  and 
slept;  I  awaked;  (the  thought  is,  I  awaked  re- 
freshed) for  the  Lord  sustaineth  me."  And  I 
thought,  as  first  that  came  to  me,  "  I  never  will 
have  insomnia  again:  I'll  trust."  And  so  you 
see  a  lesson  of  trust  in  God  came,  in  my  wide 
reading,  out  of  the  historical  setting,  that  greatly 
refreshed  and  strengthened,  and  that  1  have  never 
forgotten.  What  a  God,  to  give  sleep  under 
such  circumstances! 

A  fine  illustration  of  this  same  thing  is  found 
in  the  New  Testament  in  Paul's  letter  to  the 
Philippians.  At  one  end  of  that  epistle  is  this 
scene:  Paul,  lying  in  the  inner  damp  cell  of 
a  prison,  its  small  creeping  denizens  famil- 
iarly examining  this  newcomer,  in  the  darkness 
of  midnight,  his  back  bleeding  from  the  stripes, 
his  bones  aching,  and  his  feet  fast  in  the  stocks. 
That  is  one  half  of  the  historical  setting  of  this 
book.  And  here  is  the  other  half:  Paul,  a  pris- 
oner in  Rome.  If  he  tries  to  ease  his  body  by 
changing  his  position,  swinging  one  limb  over 
the  other,  a  chain  dangling  at  his  ankle  reminds 


The  Listening  Side  of  Prayer      175 

him  of  the  soldier  by  his  side.  As  he  picks  up  a 
quill  to  put  a  last  loving  word  out  of  his  tender 
heart  for  these  old  friends,  a  chain  pulls  at  his 
wrist.  That  is  Philippians,  the  prison  epistle, 
resounding  with  clanking  chain. 

What  is  the  keyword  of  the  book,  occurring 
oftener  than  any  other  ?  Patience  ?  Surely  that 
would  be  appropriate.  Long-suffering  ?  Still 
more  fitting  would  that  seem.  But,  no,  the  key- 
word stands  in  sharpest  contrast  to  these  sur- 
roundings. Paul  used  clouds  to  make  the  sun's 
shining  more  beautiful.  Joy,  rejoice,  rejoicing, 
is  the  music  singing  all  the  way  through  these 
four  chapters.  What  a  wondrous  Master,  this 
Jesus,  so  to  inspire  His  friend  doing  His  will! 

Every  incident  and  occurrence  of  these  pages 
becomes  a  mirror  held  up  to  God's  face  that  we 
may  see  how  wondrous  He  is. 

"  Upon  Thy  Word  I  rest 

Each  pilgrim  day. 
This  golden  staff  is  best 

For  all  the  way. 
What  Jesus  Christ  hath  spoken. 

Cannot  be  broken ! 


"  Upon  Thy  Word  I  rest ; 

So  strong,  so  sure, 
So  full  of  comfort  blest. 

So  sweet,  so  pure  : 
The  charter  of  salvation  ; 

Faith's  broad  foundation. 


176  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 


"  Upon  Thy  Word  I  stand  : 

That  cannot  lie. 
Christ  seals  it  in  my  hand. 

He  cannot  lie. 
Thy  Word  that  faileth  never : 

Abiding  ever."  ^ 

1  Frances  Ridley  Havergal. 


Something  about  God's  Will  in 
Connection  With  Prayer 


//e  Came  io  His  Own. 

The  purpose  of  prayer  is  to  get  God's  will  done. 
What  a  stranger  God  is  in  His  own  world!  No- 
body is  so  much  slandered  as  He.  He  comes  to 
His  own,  and  they  keep  Him  standing  outside 
the  door,  like  a  pilgrim  of  the  night,  staff  in  hand, 
while  they  peer  suspiciously  at  Him  thraugh  the 
crack  of  the  hinges. 

Some  of  us  shrink  back  from  making  a  full  sur- 
render of  life  to  God.  And  if  the  real  reason 
were  known  it  would  be  found  to  be  that  we  are 
afraid  of  God.  We  fear  He  will  put  something 
bitter  in  the  cup,  or  some  rough  thing  in  the 
road.  And  without  doubt  the  reason  we  are 
afraid  of  God  is  because  we  do  not  know 
God.  The  great  prayer  of  Jesus'  heart  that  night 
with  the  eleven  was,  *'  that  they  may  know  Thee 
the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou 
didst  send." 

To  understand  God's  will  we  must  understand 
something  of  His  character,  Himself.  There  are 
177 


178  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

five  common  every-day  words  I  want  to  bring 
you  to  suggest  something  of  who  God  is.  They 
are  familiar  words,  in  constant  use.  The  first  is 
the  v/ord  father.  " Father"  stands  for  strength, 
loving  strength.  A  father  plans,  and  provides 
for,  and  protects  his  loved  ones.  All  fathers  are 
not  good.  How  man  can  extract  the  meaning 
out  of  a  fine  word,  and  use  the  word  without  its 
meaning.  If  you  will  think  of  the  finest  father 
ever  you  knew  that  anybody  ever  had;  think  of 
him  now.  Then  remember  this,  God  is  a  father, 
only  He  is  so  much  finer  a  father  than  the  finest 
father  you  ever  knew  of.  And  His  will  for  your 
life — I  am  not  talking  about  heaven,  and  our 
souls  just  now,  that  is  in  it  too— His  will  for  your 
life  down  here  these  days  is  a  father's  will  for  the 
one  most  dearly  loved. 

The  second  word  is  a  finer  word.  Because 
woman  is  finer  than  man,  and  was  made,  and 
meant  to  be,  this  second  word  is  finer  than  the 
first.  I  mean  the  word  mother.  If  father  stands 
for  strength,  mother  stands  for  love, — great, 
patient,  tender,  fine-fibred,  enduring  love.  What 
would  she  not  do  for  her  loved  one!  Why,  not 
unlikely  she  went  down  into  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  that  that  life  might  come;  and  did  it 
gladly  with  the  love-light  shining  out  of  her  eyes. 
Yes,  and  would  do  it  again,  that  the  life  may  re- 
main if  need  be.  That  is  a  mother.  You  think 
of  the  finest  mother  ever  you  knew.  And  the 
suggestion  brings  the  most  hallowed  memories 


God's  Will  in  Connection  With  Prayer  179 

to  my  own  heart.  Then  remember  this:  God  is 
a  mother,  only  He  is  so  much  finer  a  mother  than 
the  finest  mother  you  ever  knew. 

The  references  in  scripture  to  God  as  a  mother 
are  numerous.  **  Under  His  wings"  is  a  mother 
figure.  The  mother-bird  gathers  her  brood  up 
under  her  wings  to  feel  the  heat  of  her  body,  and 
for  protection.  The  word  mother  is  not  used  for 
God  in  the  Bible.  I  think  it  is  because  with  God 
"father"  includes  "mother."  It  takes  more  of 
the  human  to  tell  the  story  than  of  the  divine. 
With  God,  all  the  strength  of  the  father  and  all 
the  fine  love  of  the  mother  are  combined  in 
that  word  "father."  And  His  will  for  us  is  a 
mother's  will,  a  wise  loving  mother's  will  for  the 
darling  of  her  heart. 

The  third  word  is  friend.  I  do  not  mean  to 
use  it  in  the  cheaper  meaning.  There  is  a  certain 
kindliness  of  speech  in  which  all  acquaintances 
are  called  friends.  Tupper  says,  we  call  all  men 
friends  who  are  not  known  to  be  enemies.  But 
I  mean  to  use  the  word  in  its  finer  meaning. 
Here,  a  friend  is  one  who  loves  you  for  your  sake 
only  and  steadfastly  loves  without  regard  to  any 
return,  even  a  return-love.  The  English  have  a 
saying  that  you  may  fill  a  church  with  your  ac- 
quaintances, and  not  fill  the  pulpit  seats  with 
your  friends.  If  you  may  have  in  your  life  one 
or  two  real  friends  you  are  very  wealthy.  If  you 
will  think  for  a  moment  of  the  very  best  friend 
you  ever  knew  anybody  to  have.    Then  remem- 


l8o  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

ber  this:  God  is  a  friend.  Only  He  is  ever  so 
much  better  a  friend  than  the  best  friend  you 
ever  knew  of.  And  the  plan  He  has  thought  out 
for  your  life  is  such  a  one  as  that  word  would 
suggest. 

The  fourth  word,  I  almost  hesitate  to  use,  yet 
I  am  sure  I  need  not  here.  The  hesitancy  is  be- 
cause the  word  and  its  relationship  are  spoken  of 
lightly,  frivolously,  so  much,  even  in  good  cir- 
cles. I  mean  that  rare  fine  word  lover.  Where 
two  have  met,  and  acquaintance  has  deepened 
into  friendship,  and  that  in  turn  into  the  holiest 
emotion,  the  highest  friendship.  What  would 
he  not  do  for  her!  She  becomes  the  new  human 
centre  of  his  life.  In  a  good  sense  he  worships 
the  ground  she  treads  upon.  And  she — she  will 
leave  wealth  for  poverty  if  only  so  she  may  be 
with  him  in  the  coming  days.  She  will  leave 
home  and  friends,  and  go  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth  if  his  service  calls  him  there.  You  think  of 
the  finest  lover,  man  or  woman,  you  ever  knew 
anybody  to  have.  Then  remember  this,  and  let 
me  say  it  in  soft,  reverent  tones,  God  is  a  lover — 
shall  I  say  in  yet  more  reverent  voice,  a  sweet- 
heart-lover. Only  He  is  so  much  finer  a  lover 
than  the  finest  lover  you  ever  knew  of.  And  His 
will,  His  plan  for  your  life  and  mine— it  hushes 
my  heart  to  say  it — is  a  lover's  plan  for  his  only 
loved  one. 

The  fifth  word  is  this  fourth  word  a  degree 
finer  spun,  a  stage  farther  on,  and  higher  up,  the 


God's  Will  in  Connection  With  Prayer  181 

word  husband.  This  is  the  word  on  the  man 
side  for  the  most  hallowed  relationship  of  earth. 
This  is  the  lover  relationship  in  its  perfection 
stage.  With  men  husband  is  not  always  a  finer 
word  than  lover.  The  more's  the  pity.  How 
man  does  cheapen  God's  plan  of  things;  leaves 
out  the  kernel,  and  keeps  only  an  empty  shell 
sometimes.  In  God's  thought  a  husband  is  a 
lover  plus.  He  is  all  that  the  finest  lover  is,  and 
more;  more  tender,  more  eager,  more  thoughtful. 
Two  lives  are  joined,  and  begin  living  one  life. 
Two  wills,  yet  one.  Two  persons,  yet  one  pur- 
pose. Duality  in  unity.  Will  you  call  to  mind 
for  a  moment  the  best  husband  you  ever  knew 
any  woman  to  have.  Then  remember  this  that 
God  is  a  husband;  only  He  is  an  infinitely  more 
thoughtful  husband  than  any  you  ever  knew. 
And  His  will  for  your  life  is  a  husband's  will  for 
his  life's  friend  and  companion. 

Now,  please,  do  not  you  take  one  of  these 
words,  and  say,  "I  like  that";  and  ji^ow  another 
and  say,  "That  conception  of  God  appeals  to 
me,"  and  you  another.  How  we  do  whittle 
God  down  to  our  narrow  conceptions!  You 
must  take  ail  five  words,  and  think  the  finest 
meaning  into  each,  and  then  put  them  all  to- 
gether, to  get  a  close  up  idea  of  God.  He  is  all 
that,  and  more. 

You  see  God  is  so  much  that  it  takes  a  number 
of  earth's  relationships  put  together  to  get  a  good 
suggestion  of  what  He  is.     He  is  a  father,  a 


l82  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

mother,  a  friend,  a  lover,  a  husband.  I  have  not 
brought  book,  and  chapter,  and  verse.  But  you 
know  I  could  spend  a  long  time  with  you  reading 
over  the  numerous  passages  giving  these  concep- 
tions of  God. 

And  God's  will  for  us  is  the  plan  of  such  a 
God  as  that.  It  includes  the  body,  health  and 
strength;  the  family  and  home  matters;  money 
and  business  matters;  friendships,  including  the 
choice  of  life's  chief  friend;  it  includes  service, 
what  service  and  where;  and  constant  guidance; 
it  includes  the  whole  life,  and  the  world  of  lives. 
All  this  He  has  thought  into,  lovingly,  carefully. 
Does  a  wise  mother  think  of  her  child's  needs 
into  the  details,  the  necessities  and  the  loving  ex- 
tras ?    That  is  God. 

The  One  Purpose  of  Prayer. 

Now,  the  whole  thought  in  prayer  is  to  get 
the  will  of  a  God  like  that  done  in  our  lives  and 
upon  this  old  earth.  The  greatest  prayer  any  one 
can  offer  is,  **Thy  will  be  done."  It  will  be  of- 
fered in  a  thousand  different  forms,  with  a  thou- 
sand details,  as  needs  arise  daily.  But  every 
true  prayer  comes  under  those  four  words. 
There  is  not  a  good  desirable  thing  that  you 
have  thought  of  that  He  has  not  thought  of  first, 
and  probably  with  an  added  touch  not  in  your 
thought.  Not  to  grit  your  teeth  and  lock  your 
jaw  and  pray  for  grace  to  say,  "Thy  will  be 
endured:   it  is  bitter,  but  I   must  be  resigned  ; 


God's  Will  in  Connection  With  Prayer  183 

that  is  a  Christian  grace;  Thy  will  be  endured." 
Not  that,  please.  Do  not  slander  God  like  that. 
There  is  a  superficial  idea  among  men  that 
charges  God  with  many  misfortunes  and  ills  for 
which  He  is  not  at  all  responsible.  He  is  con- 
tinually doing  the  very  best  that  can  be  done  un- 
der the  circumstances  for  the  best  results.  He 
has  a  bad  mixture  of  stubborn  warped  human 
wills  to  deal  with.  With  infinite  patience  and 
skill  and  diplomacy  and  success  too  He  is  ever 
working  at  the  tangled  skein  of  human  life, 
■through  the  human  will. 

It  may  help  us  here  to  remember  that  God  has 
a  first  and  a  second  will  for  us :  a  first  choice  and 
a  second.  He  always  prefers  that  His  first  will 
shall  be  accomplished  in  us.  But  where  we  will 
not  be  wooed  up  to  that  height,  He  comes  down 
to  the  highest  level  we  will  come  up  to,  and 
works  with  us  there.  For  instance,  God's  first 
choice  for  Israel  was  that  He  Himself  should  be 
their  king.  There  was  to  be  no  human,  visible 
king,  as  with  the  surrounding  nations.  He  was 
to  be  their  king.  They  were  to  be  peculiar  in 
this.  But  to  Samuel's  sorrow  and  yet  more  to 
God's,  they  insisted  upon  a  king.  And  so  God 
gave  them  a  king.  And  David  the  great  shep- 
herd-psalmist-king was  a  man  after  God's  own 
heart,  and  the  world's  Saviour  came  of  the  Da- 
vidic  line.  God  did  His  best  upon  the  level  they 
chose  and  a  great  best  it  was.  Yet  the  human 
king  and  line  of  kings  was  not  God's  first  will, 


184  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

but  a  second  will  yielded  to  because  the  first 
would  not  be  accepted.  God  is  ever  doing  the 
best  for  human  lives  that  can  be  done  through 
the  human  will. 

His  first  will  for  our  bodies,  without  doubt,  is 
that  there  should  be  a  strong  healthy  body  for 
each  of  us.  But  there  is  a  far  higher  thing  being 
aimed  at  in  us  than  that.  And  with  keen  pain  to 
His  own  heart,  He  oft  times  permits  bodily  weak- 
ness and  suffering  because  in  the  conditions  of 
our  wills  only  so  can  these  higher  and  highest 
things  be  gotten  at.  And  where  the  human  will 
comes  into  intelligent  touch  with  Himself,  and 
the  higher  can  so  be  reached,  with  great  gladness 
and  eagerness  the  bodily  difficulty  is  removed  by 
Him. 

There  are  two  things,  at  least,  that  modify 
God's  first  will  for  us.  First  of  all  the  degree  of 
our  intelligent  willingness  that  He  shall  have  His 
full  sway.  And  second,  the  circumstances  of 
one's  life.  Each  of  us  is  the  centre  of  a  circle  of 
people,  an  ever  changing  circle.  If  we  be  in 
touch  with  Him  God  is  speaking  through  each  of 
us  to  his  circle.  Our  experiences  with  God:  His 
dealings  with  us,  under  the  varying  circum- 
stances are  a  part  of  His  message  to  that  circle. 
God  is  trying  to  win  men.  It  takes  marvellous 
diplomacy  on  His  part.  And  God  is  a  won- 
drous tactician.  But — very  reverently — He  is 
a  needy  God.  He  needs  us  to  help  Him, 
each  in  his  circle.    We  must  be  perfectly  willing 


God's  Will  in  Connection  With  Prayer  185 

to  have  His  will  done;  and  more,  we  must  trust 
Him  to  know  what  is  best  to  do  in  us  and  with 
us  in  the  circle  of  our  circumstances.  God  is  a 
great  economist.  He  wastes  no  forces.  Every 
bit  is  being  conserved  towards  the  great  end  in 
view. 

There  may  be  a  false  submission  to  His  sup- 
posed will  in  some  affliction;  a  not  reaching  out 
after  all  that  He  has  for  us.  And  at  the  other 
swing  of  the  pendulum  there  may  be  a  sort  of 
logical  praying  for  some  desirable  thing  because 
a  friend  tells  us  we  should  claim  it.  By  logical 
praying  I  mean  the  studying  of  a  statement  of 
God's  word,  and  possibly  some  one's  explanation 
of  it,  and  hearing  or  knowing  how  somebody 
else  has  claimed  a  certain  thing  through  that 
statement  and  then  concluding  that  therefore  we 
should  so  claim.  The  trouble  with  that  is  that 
it  stops  too  soon.  Praying  in  the  Spirit  as  op- 
posed to  logical  praying  is  doing  this  logical 
thinking:  then  quietly  taking  all  to  God,  to  learn 
what  His  will  is  for  you,  under  your  circum- 
stances, and  in  the  circle  of  people  whom  He 
touches  through  you. 

The  Spirit's  Prayer  Room. 

There  is  a  remarkable  passage  in  Paul's  Roman 
letter  about  prayer  and  God's  will.^  "And  in 
like  manner  the  Spirit  also  helpeth  our  infirmity: 
for  we  know  not  how  to  pray  as  we  ought;  but 

>  Romans  8 :  26-28. 


l86  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

the  Spirit  Himself  maketh  intercession  for  us 
with  groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered;  and  He 
that  searcheth  the  hearts  knoweth  what  is  the 
mind  of  the  Spirit,  that  He  maketh  intercession 
for  the  saints  according  to  the  will  of  God." 

Please  notice:  these  words  connect  back  with 
the  verses  ending  with  verse  seventeen.  Verses 
eighteen  through  twenty-five  are  a  parenthesis. 
As  the  Spirit  within  breathes  out  the '*  Father" 
cry  of  a  child,  which  is  the  prayer-cry,  so  He  helps 
us  in  praying.  It  is  our  infirmity  that  we  do  not 
know  how  to  pray  as  we  ought.  There  is  will- 
ingness and  eagerness  too.  No  bother  there. 
But  a  lack  of  knowledge.  We  don't  know  how. 
But  the  Spirit  knows  how.  He  is  the  master- 
paryer.  He  knows  God's  will  perfectly.  He 
knows  what  best  to  be  praying  under  all  circum- 
stances. And  He  is  within  you  and  me.  He  is 
there  as  a  prayer-spirit.  He  prompts  us  to  pray. 
He  calls  us  away  to  the  quiet  room  to  our  knees. 
He  inclines  to  prayer  wherever  we  are.  He  is 
thinking  thoughts  that  find  no  response  in  us. 
They  cannot  be  expressed  in  our  lips  for  they  are 
not  in  our  thinking.  He  prays  with  an  intensity 
quite  beyond  the  possibility  of  language  to  ex- 
press. And  the  heart-searcher — God  listening 
above — knows  fully  what  this  praying  Spirit  is 
thinking  within  me,  and  wordlessly  praying,  for 
they  are  one.  He  recognizes  His  own  purposes 
and  plans  being  repeated  in  this  man  down  on 
the  earth  by  His  own  Spirit. 


God's  Will  in  Connection  With  Prayer  187 

And  the  great  truth  is  that  the  Spirit  within 
us  prays  God's  will.  He  teaches  us  God's  will. 
He  teaches  us  how  to  pray  God's  will.  And  He 
Himself  prays  God's  will  in  us.  And  further 
that  He  seeks  to  pray  God's  will— that  is  to  pray 
for  the  thing  God  has  planned — in  us  before  we 
have  yet  reached  up  to  where  we  know  our- 
selves what  that  will  is. 

We  should  be  ambitious  to  cultivate  a  healthy 
sensitiveness  to  this  indwelling  Spirit.  And 
when  there  comes  that  quick  inner  wooing  away 
to  pray  let  us  faithfully  obey.  Even  though  we 
be  not  clear  what  the  particular  petition  is  to  be 
let  us  remain  in  prayer  while  He  uses  us  as  the 
medium  of  His  praying. 

Oftentimes  the  best  prayer  to  offer  about  some 
friend,  or  some  particular  thing,  after  perhaps 
stating  the  case  the  best  we  can  is  this:  "  Holy 
Spirit,  be  praying  in  me  the  thing  the  Father 
wants  done.  Father,  what  the  Spirit  within  me 
is  praying,  that  is  my  prayer  in  Jesus'  name. 
Thy  will,  what  Thou  art  wishing  and  thinking, 
may  that  be  fully  done  here." 

How  to  Find  God's  Will, 


We  should  make  a  study  of  God's  will.  We 
ought  to  seek  to  become  skilled  in  knowing  His 
will.  The  more  we  know  Him  the  better  shall 
we  be  able  to  read  intelligently  His  will. 

It  may  be  said  that  God  has  two  wills  for  each 
of  us,  or,  better,  there  are  two  parts  to  His  will. 


i88  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

\  There  is  His  will  of  grace,  and  His  will  of  govern- 
ment. His  will  of  grace  is  plainly  revealed  in 
His  Word.  It  is  that  we  shall  be  saved,  and  made 
holy,  and  pure,  and  by  and  by  glorified  in  His 
own  presence.  His  will  of  government  is  His 
'  particular  plan  for  my  life.  God  has  every  life 
planned.  The  highest  possible  ambition  for  a  life 
is  to  reach  God's  plan.  He  reveals  that  to  us  bit 
by  bit  as  we  need  to  know.  If  the  life  is  to  be 
one  of  special  service  He  will  make  that  plain, 
what  service,  and  where,  and  when.  Then  each 
next  step  He  will  make  plain. 

Learning  His  will  here  hinges  upon  three  things, 
simple  enough   but  essential.     I  must  keep  in 

^iouch  with  Him  so  He  has  an  open  ear  to  talk 
into.  I  must  delight  to.  do  His  will,  because  it  is 
His.  The  third  thing  needs  special  emphasis. 
Many  who  are  right  on  the  first  two  stumble 
here,  and  sometimes  measure  their  length  on  the 
ground.  His  Word  must  be  allowed  to  discipline 
my  judgment  as  to  Himself  and  His  will.  Many 
of  us  stumble  on  number  one  and  on  number 
two.  And  very  many  willing  earnest  men  sprawl 
badly  when  it  comes  to  number  three.  The 
bother  with  these  is  the  lack  of  a  disciplined  judg- 
ment about  God  and  His  will.  If  we  would 
prayerfully  absorb  the  Book,  there  would  come 
a  better  poised  judgment.  We  need  to  get  a 
broad  sweep  of  God's  thought,  to  breathe  Him 
in  as  He  reveals  Himself  in  this  Book.  The  meek 
man — that  is  the  man  willing  to  yield  his  will  to 


God's  Will  in  Connection  With  Prayer  189 

a  higher  will — will  He  guide  in  his  judgment, 
that  is,  in  his  mental  processes/ 

This  is  John's  standpoint  in  that  famous  pas- 
sage in  his  first  epistle.^  **  And  this  is  the  boldness 
that  we  have  towards  Him,  that,  if  we  ask  any- 
thing according  to  His  will,  He  heareth  us:  and 
if  we  know  that  He  heareth  us  whatsoever  we 
ask,  we  know  that  we  have  the  petitions  that  we 
have  asked  of  Him."  These  words  dovetail  with 
great  nicety  into  those  already  quoted  from  Paul 
in  the  eighth  of  Romans.  The  whole  supposi- 
tion here  is  that  we  have  learned  His  will  about 
the  particular  matter  in  hand.  Having  gotten 
that  footing,  we  go  to  prayer  with  great  boldness. 
For  if  He  wants  a  thing  and  I  want  it  and  we 
join— that  combination  cannot  be  broken. 

»  Psalm  25  :  9.  »  I  John  5  :  14,  15. 


May  we  Pray  With  Assurance  for 
the  Conversion  of  Our  Loved 
Ones 


God's  Door  into  a  Home. 

The  heart  of  God  hungers  to  redeem  the 
world.  For  that  He  gave  His  own,  only  Son, 
though  the  treatment  He  received  tore  that  Fa- 
ther's heart  to  the  bleeding.  For  that  He  sent  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  do  in  men  what  the  Son  had  done 
for  them.  For  that  He  placed  in  human  hands 
the  mightiest  of  all  forces— prayer,  that  so  we 
might  become  partners  with  Him. 

For  that  too  He  set  man  in  the  relationships  of 
kinship  and  friendship.  He  wins  men  through 
men.  Man  is  the  goal,  and  he  is  also  the  road  to 
the  goal.  Man  is  the  object  aimed  at.  And  he  is 
the  medium  of  approach,  whether  the  advance  be 
by  God  or  by  Satan.  God  will  not  enter  a  man's 
heart  without  his  consent,  and  Satan  cannot  God 
would  reach  men  through  men,  and  Satan  must. 
And  so  God  has  set  us  in  the  strongest  relation 
that  binds  men,  the  relation  of  love,  that  He  may 
touch  one  through  another.  Kinship  is  a  relation 
peculiar  to  man,  and  to  the  earth. 
190 


May  We  Pray  With  Assurance    191 

I  have  at  times  been  asked  by  some  earnest 
sensitive  persons  if  it  is  not  selfish  to  be  espe- 
cially concerned  for  one's  own,  over  whom  the 
heart  yearns  much,  and  the  prayer  off  ered  is  more 
tender  and  intense  and  more  frequent.  Well,  if 
you  do  not  pray  for  them  who  will  ?  Who  can 
pray  for  them  with  such  believing  persistent 
fervour  as  you !  God  has  set  us  in  the  relationship 
of  personal  affection  and  of  kinship  for  just  such  a 
purpose.  He  binds  us  together  with  the  ties  of 
love  that  we  may  be  concerned  for  each  other. 
If  there  be  but  one  in  a  home  in  touch  with  God, 
that  one  becomes  God's  door  into  the  whole 
family. 

Contact  means  opportunity,  and  that  in  turn 
means  responsibility.  The  closer  the  contact  the 
greater  the  opportunity  and  the  greater  too  the 
responsibility.  Unselfishness  does  not  mean  to 
exclude  one's  self,  and  one's  own.  It  means 
right  proportions  in  our  perspective.  Humility  is 
not  whipping  one's  self.  It  is  forgetting  one's 
self  in  the  thought  of  others.  Yet  even  that  may 
be  carried  to  a  bad  extreme.  Not  only  is  it  not 
selfish  so  to  pray,  it  is  a  part  of  God's  plan  that 
we  should  so  pray.  I  am  most  responsible  for 
the  one  to  whom  I  am  most  closely  related. 

A  Free  Agent  Enslaved. 

One  of  the  questions  that  is  more  often  asked 
in  this  connection  than  any  other  perhaps  is  this: 
may  we  pray  with  assurance  for  the  conversion 


igl  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

of  our  loved  ones?  No  question  sets  more 
hearts  in  an  audience  to  beating  faster  than 
does  that.  I  remember  speaking  in  the  Boston 
noonday  meeting,  in  the  old  Broomfield  Street  M. 
E.  Church  on  this  subject  one  week.  Perhaps 
I  was  speaking  rather  positively.  And  at  the 
close  of  the  meeting  one  day  a  keen,  cultured 
Christian  woman  whom  I  knew  came  up  for  a 
word.  She  said,  "  I  do  not  think  we  can  pray 
like  that."  And  I  said,  '^Why  not?"  She 
paused  a  moment,  and  her  well-controlled  agita- 
tion revealed  in  eye  and  lip  told  me  how  deeply 
her  thoughts  were  stirred.  Then  she  said  quietly, 
"  I  have  a  brother.  He  is  not  a  Christian. 
The  theatre,  the  wine,  the  club,  the  cards— that 
is  his  life.  And  he  laughs  at  me.  I  would 
rather  than  anything  else  that  my  brother  were 
a  Christian.  But,"  she  said,  and  here  both  her 
keenness  and  the  training  of  her  early  teaching 
came  in,  "  I  do  not  think  I  can  pray  positively 
for  his  conversion,  for  he  is  a  free  agent,  is  he 
not  ?  And  God  will  not  save  a  man  against  his 
will." 

I  want  to  say  to  you  to-day  what  I  said  to  her. 
Man  is  a  free  agent,  to  use  the  old  phrase,  so  far 
as  God  is  concerned;  utterly,  wholly  free.  And, 
he  is  the  most  enslaved  agent  on  the  earth,  so 
far  as  sin,  and  selfishness  and  prejudice  are  con- 
cerned. The  purpose  of  our  praying  is  not  to 
force  or  coerce  his  will;  never  that.  It  is  to  free 
his  will  of  the  warping  influences  that  now  twist 


May  We  Pray  With  Assurance    193 

it  awry.  It  is  to  get  the  dust  out  of  his  eyes  so 
his  sight  shall  be  clear.  And  once  he  is  free, 
able  to  see  aright,  to  balance  things  without 
prejudice,  the  whole  probability  is  in  favour  of 
his  using  his  will  to  choose  the  only  right. 

I  want  to  suggest  to  you  the  ideal  prayer  for 
such  a  one.  It  is  an  adaptation  of  Jesus'  own 
words.  It  may  be  pleaded  with  much  variety  of 
detail.  It  is  this:  deliver  him  from  the  evil  one; 
and  work  in  him  Thy  will  for  him,  by  Thy  power 
to  Thy  glory  in  Jesus,  the  Victor's  name.  And 
there  are  three  special  passages  upon  which  to 
base  this  prayer.  First  Timothy,  second  chapter, 
fourth  verse  (American  version),  "God  our 
Saviour,  who  would  have  all  men  to  be  saved." 
That  is  God's  will  for  your  loved  one.  Second 
Peter,  third  chapter,  ninth  verse,  "not  wishing 
(or  willing)  that  any  should  perish  but  that  all 
should  come  to  repentance."  That  is  God's  will, 
or  desire,  for  the  one  you  are  thinking  of  now. 
The  third  passage  is  on  our  side  who  do  the 
praying.  It  tells  who  may  offer  this  prayer  with 
assurance.  John,  fifteenth  chapter,  seventh 
verse,  "  If  ye  abide  in  Me,  and  My  words  abide 
in  you,  you  ask  what  it  is  your  will  to  ask,  and 
1  will  bring  it  to  pass  for  you." 

There  is  a  statement  of  Paul's  in  second  Timo- 
thy that  graphically  pictures  this: '  "The  Lord's 
servant  must  not  strive  " — not  argue,  nor  com- 
bat— **  but  be  gentle  towards  all,  apt  to  teach  " — 
1  2  Timothy  2  :  24-26. 


194  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

ready  and  skilled  in  explaining,  helping — **in 
meekness  correcting  (or,  instructing)  them  that 
oppose  themselves;  if  peradventure  God  may 
give  them  repentance  unto  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth,  and  they  may  recover  themselves  out  of  the 
snare  of  the  devil,  having  been  taken  captive  by 
him  unto  his  will." 

That  word  "deliver"  in  this  prayer,  as  used 
by  Jesus,  the  word  under  our  English,  has  a  pic- 
turesque meaning.  It  means  rescue.  Here  is  a 
man  taken  captive,  and  in  chains.  But  he  has 
become  infatuated  with  his  captor,  and  is  be- 
fooled regarding  his  condition.  Our  prayer  is, 
''rescue  him  from  the  evil  one,"  and  because 
Jesus  is  Victor  over  the  captor,  the  rescue  will 
take  place. 

Without  any  doubt  we  may  assure  the  con- 
version of  these  laid  upon  our  hearts  by  such 
praying.  The  prayer  in  Jesus'  name  drives 
the  enemy  off  the  battle-field  of  the  man's  will, 
and  leaves  him  free  to  choose  aright.  There  is 
one  exception  to  be  noted,  a  very,  very  rare  ex- 
ception. There  may  be  extreme  instances  where 
such  a  prayer  may  not  be  offered;  where  the 
spirit  of  prayer  is .  withdrawn.  But  such  are 
very  rare  and  extreme,  and  the  conviction  re- 
garding that  will  be  unmistakable  beyond  ask- 
ing any  questions. 

And  I  cannot  resist  the  conviction— I  greatly 
dislike  to  say  this,  I  would  much  rather  not  if  I 
regarded  either  my  own  feelings  or  yours.     But  I 


May  We  Pray  With  Assurance   195 

cannot  resist  the  conviction — listen  very  quietly, 
so  I  may  speak  in  quietest  tones — ^that  there  are 
people  ...  in  that  lower,  lost  world  .  .  . 
who  are  there  .  .  .  because  some  one  failed 
to  put  his  life  in  touch  with  God,  and  pray. 

The  Place  Where  God  is  Not 

Having  said  that  much  let  me  go  on  to  say  this 
further,  and  please  let  me  say  it  all  in  softest 
sobbing  voice — there  is  a  hell.  There  must  be 
a  hell.  You  may  leave  this  Bible  sheer  out  of 
your  reckoning  in  the  matter.  Still  there  must  be 
a  place  for  which  that  word  of  ugliest  associations 
is  the  word  to  use.  Philosophically  there  must 
be  a  hell.  That  is  the  name  for  the  place  where 
God  is  not;  for  the  place  where  they  will  gather 
together  who  insist  on  leaving  God  out.  God 
out!  There  can  be  no  worse  hell  than  that  I 
God  away!    Man  held  back  by  no  restraints! 

I  am  very  clear  it  is  not  what  men  have  pic- 
tured it  to  be.  It  is  not  what  my  childish  fancy 
saw  and  shrank  from  terrified.  And,  please  let 
us  be  very  careful  that  we  never  consign  any- 
body there,  in  our  thinking  or  speaking  about 
them.  When  that  life  whose  future  might  be 
questioned  has  gone  the  most  we  can  say  is  that 
we  leave  it  with  a  God  infinitely  just  and  the  per- 
sonification of  love. 

There  has  been  in  some  quarters  an  unthinking 
consigning  of  persons  to  a  lost  world.  And 
there  has  been  in  our  day  a  clean  swing  of  the 


196  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

pendulum  to  the  other  extreme.  Both  drifts  are 
to  be  dreaded.  Let  us  deal  very  tenderly  here, 
yet  with  a  right  plainness  in  our  tenderness.  We 
are  to  warn  men  faithfully.  We  know  the  Book's 
plain  teaching  that  these  who  prefer  to  leave 
God  out  "shall  go  away."  The  going  is  of 
their  own  accord  and  choice.  Regarding  par- 
ticular ones  we  do  not  know  and  are  best  silent. 
The  grave  is  closing.     Let  us  deal  with  the  living. 

One  day  at  the  close  of  the  morning  hour  at  a 
Bible  conference  in  the  Alleghany  Mountains  a 
young  woman  came  up  for  a  moment's  conver- 
sation. She  spoke  about  a  friend,  not  a  profess- 
ing Christian,  for  whom  she  had  prayed  much, 
and  who  had  died  unexpectedly.  He  had  passed 
away  during  unconsciousness,  with  no  opportu- 
nity for  exchange  of  words.  She  was  much 
agitated  as  the  facts  were  recited,  and  then  said 
as  she  finished,  "he  is  lost  and  in  hell:  and  I 
can  never  pray  again." 

We  talked  quietly  awhile  and  I  gathered  the 
following  facts.  He  was  of  a  Christian  family, 
perfectly  familiar  with  the  Bible,  was  a  thought- 
ful man,  of  outwardly  correct  life  in  the  main, 
had  talked  about  these  matters  with  others  but 
had  never  either  in  conversation  or  more  openly 
confessed  personal  faith  in  Christ.  He  was  not 
in  good  health.  Then  came  the  sudden  end. 
One  other  fact  came  out.  She  had  prayed  for 
his  conversion  for  a  long  time.  She  was  herself 
an    earnest    Christian    woman,    solicitous    for 


May  We  Pray  With  Assurance    197 

others.  There  were  four  facts  to  go  upon  re- 
garding him.  He  knew  the  way  to  God.  He 
was  thoughtful.  He  had  never  openly  accepted. 
Some  one  had  prayed. 

Can  one  know  anything  certainly  about  that 
man's  condition  ?  There  are  two  sorts  of  knowl- 
edge, direct  and  inferential.  I  know  there  is 
such  a  city  as  London  for  I  have  walked  its 
streets.  That  is  direct  knowledge.  I  know 
ihere  is  such  a  city  as  St.  Petersburg  because 
ihough  I  have  never  been  there,  yet  through  my 
reading,  pictures  I  have  seen,  and  friends  who 
have  been  there  I  am  clear  of  its  existence  to  the 
point  of  knowledge.  That  is  inferential  knowl- 
edge. 

Now  regarding  this  man  after  he  slipped  from 
the  grasp  of  his  friends,  I  have  no  direct  knowl- 
edge. But  I  have  very  positive  inferential  knowl- 
edge based  upon  these  four  facts.  Three  of  the 
facts,  namely,  the  first,  second,  and  fourth  were 
favourable  to  the  end  desired.  The  third  swings 
neither  way.  The  great  dominant  fact  in  the 
case  is  the  fourth,  and  a  great  and  dominating 
fact  it  is  in  judging — some  one  in  touch  with 
God  had  been  persistently,  believingly  praying 
up  to  the  time  of  the  quick  end.  That  fact  with 
the  others  gives  strong  inferential  knowledge  re- 
garding the  man.  It  is  sufficient  to  comfort  a 
heart,  and  give  one  renewed  faith  in  praying  for 
others. 


198  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

Saving  the  Life. 

We  cannot  know  a  man's  mental  processes. 
This  is  surely  true,  that  if  in  the  very  last  half- 
twinkling  of  an  eye  a  man  look  up  towards  God 
longingly,  that  look  is  the  turning  of  the  will  to 
God.  And  that  is  quite  enough.  God  is  eagerly 
watching  with  hungry  eyes  for  the  quick  turn  of 
a  human  eye  up  to  Himself.  Doubtless  many  a 
man  has  so  turned  in  the  last  moment  of  his  life 
when  we  were  not  conscious  of  his  conscious- 
ness, nor  aware  of  the  movements  of  his  out- 
wardly unconscious  subconsciousness.  One  may 
be  unconscious  of  outer  things,  and  yet  be  keenly 
conscious  towards  God. 

At  another  of  these  summer  gatherings  this  in- 
cident came  to  me.  A  man  seemingly  of  mature 
mind  and  judgment  told  me  of  a  friend  of  his. 
That  was  as  close  as  I  got  to  the  friend  himself. 
This  friend  was  not  a  professing  Christian,  was 
thrown  from  a  boat,  sank  twice  and  perhaps 
three  times,  and  then  was  rescued,  and  after 
some  difficulty  resuscitated.  He  told  afterwards 
how  swiftly  his  thoughts  came  as  they  are  said 
to  do  to  one  in  such  circumstances.  He  thought 
surely  he  was  drowning,  was  quiet  in  his  mind, 
thought  of  God  and  how  he  had  not  been  trust- 
ing Him,  and  in  his  thought  he  prayed  for  for- 
giveness. He  lived  afterwards  a  consistent 
Christian  life.  This  illustrates  simply  the  possi- 
bilities open  to  one  in  his  keen  inner  mental 
processes. 


May  We  Pray  With  Assurance    199 

Here  is  surely  enough  knowledge  to  comfort 
many  a  bereft  heart,  and  enough  too  to  make  us 
pray  persistently  and  believingly  for  loved  ones 
because  of  prayer's  uncalculated  and  incalculable 
power.  Be  sure  the  prayer-fact  is  in  the  case  of 
your  friend,  and  in  strong. 

Yet  let  us  be  wary,  very  wary  of  letting  this 
influence  us  one  bit  farther.  That  man  is  noth- 
ing less  than  a  fool  who  presumes  upon  such 
statements  to  resist  God's  gracious  pleadings  for 
his  life.  And  on  our  side,  we  must  not  fail  to 
warn  men  lovingly,  tenderly  yet  with  plainness 
of  the  tremendous  danger  of  delay,  in  coming  to 
God.  A  man  may  be  so  stupefied  at  the  close  as 
to  shut  out  of  his  range  what  has  been  suggested 
here.  And  further  even  if  a  man's  soul  be  saved 
he  is  responsible  to  God  for  his  life.  We  want 
men  to  live  for  Jesus,  and  win  others  to  Him. 
And  further,  yet,  reward,  preferment,  honour  in 
God's  kingdom  depends  upon  faithfulness  to 
Him  down  here.  Who  would  be  saved  by  the 
skin  of  his  teeth ! 

The  great  fact  to  have  burned  in  deep  is  that 
we  may  assure  the  coming  to  God  of  our  loved 
ones  with  their  lives,  as  well  as  for  their  souls  if 
we  will  but  press  the  battle. 

Giving  God  a  Clear  Road  for  Action, 

Out  in  one  of  the  trans-Mississippi  states  I  ran 
across  an  illustration  of  prayer  in  real  life  that 


200  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

caught  me  at  once,  and  has  greatly  helped  me  in 
understanding  prayer. 

Fact  is  more  fascinating  than  fiction.  If  one 
could  know  what  is  going  on  around  him,  how 
surprised  and  startled  he  would  be.  If  we  could 
get  all  the  facts  in  any  one  incident,  and  get 
them  colourlessly,  and  have  the  judgment  to  sift 
and  analyze  accurately,  what  fascinating  instances 
of  the  power  of  prayer  would  be  disclosed. 

There  is  a  double  side  to  this  story.  The  side 
of  the  man  who  was  changed,  and  the  side  of 
the  woman  who  prayed.  He  is  a  New  Eng- 
lander,  by  birth  and  breeding,  now  living  in  this 
western  state:  almost  a  giant  physically,  keen 
mentally,  a  lawyer,  and  a  natural  leader.  He 
had  the  conviction  as  a  boy  that  if  he  became  a 
Christian  he  was  to  preach.  But  he  grew  up  a 
skeptic,  read  up  and  lectured  on  skeptical  sub- 
jects. He  was  the  representative  of  a  district  of 
his  western  home  state  in  congress;  in  his  fourth 
term  or  so  I  think  at  this  time. 

The  experience  I  am  telling  came  during  that 
congress  when  the  Hayes-Tilden  controversy  was 
up,  the  intensest  congress  Washington  has 
known  since  the  Civil  War.  It  was  not  a  time 
specially  suited  to  meditation  about  God  in  the 
halls  of  congress.  And  further  he  said  to  me 
that  somehow  he  knew  all  the  other  skeptics 
who  were  in  the  lower  house  and  they  drifted 
together  a  good  bit  and  strengthened  each  other 
by  their  talk. 


May  We  Pray  With  Assurance  201 

One  day  as  he  was  in  his  seat  in  the  lower 
house,  in  the  midst  of  the  business  of  the  hour, 
there  came  to  him  a  conviction  that  God — the 
God  in  whom  he  did  not  believe,  whose  existence 
he  could  keenly  disprove — God  was  right  there 
above  his  head  thinking  about  him,  and  dis- 
pleased at  the  way  he  was  behaving  towards 
Him.  And  he  said  to  himself:  ''this  is  ridicu- 
lous, absurd.  I've  been  working  too  hard;  con- 
fined too  closely;  my  mind  is  getting  morbid. 
I'll  go  out,  and  get  some  fresh  air,  and  shake  my- 
self." And  so  he  did.  But  the  conviction  only 
deepened  and  intensified.  Day  by  day  it  grew. 
And  that  went  on  for  weeks,  into  the  fourth 
month  as  I  recall  his  words.  Then  he  planned  to 
return  home  to  attend  to  some  business  matters, 
and  to  attend  to  some  preliminaries  for  securing 
the  nomination  for  the  governorship  of  his  state. 
And  as  I  understand  he  was  in  a  fair  way  to  se- 
curing the  nomination,  so  far  as  one  can  judge  of 
such  matters.  And  his  party  is  the  dominant 
party  in  the  state.  A  nomination  for  governor 
by  his  party  has  usually  been  followed  by  elec- 
tion. 

He  reached  his  home  and  had  hardly  gotten 
there  before  he  found  that  his  wife  and  two 
others  had  entered  into  a  holy  compact  of  prayer 
for  his  conversion,  and  had  been  so  praying  for 
some  months.  Instantly  he  thought  of  his  pecul- 
iar unwelcome  Washington  experience,  and  be- 
came intensely  interested.     But  not  wishing  them 


202  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

to  know  of  his  interest,  he  asked  carelessly  when 
**this  thing  began."  His  wife  told  him  the  day. 
He  did  some  quick  mental  figuring,  and  he  said 
to  me,  "  I  knew  almost  instantly  that  the  day  she 
named  fitted  into  the  calendar  with  the  coming 
of  that  conviction  or  impression  about  God's 
presence." 

He  was  greatly  startled.  He  wanted  to  be 
thoroughly  honest  in  all  his  thinking.  And  he 
said  he  knew  that  if  a  single  fact  of  that  sort 
could  be  established,  of  prayer  producing  such 
results,  it  carried  the  whole  Christian  scheme  of 
belief  with  it.  And  he  did  some  stiff  fighting 
within.  Had  he  been  wrong  all  those  years? 
He  sifted  the  matter  back  and  forth  as  a  lawyer 
would  the  evidence  in  any  case.  And  he  said  to 
me,  **As  an  honest  man  I  was  compelled  to  ad- 
mit the  facts,  and  I  believe  I  might  have  been  led 
to  Christ  that  very  night." 

A  few  nights  later  he  knelt  at  the  altar  in  the 
Methodist  meeting-house  in  his  home  town  and 
surrendered  his  strong  will  to  God.  Then  the 
early  conviction  of  his  boyhood  days  came 
back.  He  was  to  preach  the  gospel.  And  like 
Saul  of  old,  he  utterly  changed  his  life,  and 
has  been  preaching  the  gospel  with  power  ever 
since. 

Then  I  was  intensely  fascinated  in  getting  the 
other  side,  the  praying-side  of  the  story.  His 
wife  had  been  a  Christian  for  years,  since  before 
their  marriage.     But  in  some  meetings  in  the 


May  We  Pray  With  Assurance  203 

home  church  she  was  led  into  a  new,  a  full  sur- 
render to  Jesus  Christ  as  Master,  and  had  experi- 
enced a  new  consciousness  of  the  Holy  Spirit's 
presence  and  power.  Almost  at  once  came  a 
new  intense  desire  for  her  husband's  conversion. 
The  compact  of  three  was  agreed  upon,  of  daily 
prayer  for  him  until  the  change  came. 

As  she  prayed  that  night  after  retiring  to  her 
sleeping  apartment  she  was  in  great  distress  of 
mind  in  thinking  and  praying  for  him.  She 
could  get  no  rest  from  this  intense  distress.  At 
length  she  rose,  and  knelt  by  the  bedside  to  pray. 
As  she  was  praying  and  distressed  a  voice,  an 
exquisitely  quiet  inner  voice  said,  "will  you 
abide  the  consequences?"  She  was  startled. 
Such  a  thing  was  wholly  new  to  her.  She  did 
not  know  what  it  meant.  And  without  paying 
any  attention  to  it,  went  on  praying.  Again  came 
the  same  quietly  spoken  words  to  her  ear,  "  will 
you  abide  the  consequences?"  And  again  the 
half  frightened  feeling.  She  slipped  back  to  bed 
to  sleep.  But  sleep  did  not  come.  And  back 
again  to  her  knees,  and  again  the  patient,  quiet 
voice. 

This  time  with  an  earnestness  bearing  the  im- 
press of  her  agony  she  said,  "Lord,  1  will  abide 
any  consequence  that  may  come  if  only  my  hus- 
band may  be  brought  to  Thee."  And  at  once 
the  distress  slipped  away,  and  a  new  sweet  peace 
filled  her  being,  and  sleep  quickly  came.  And 
while  she  prayed  on  for  weeks  and  months  pa- 


204  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

tiently,  persistently,  day  by  day,  the  distress  was 
gone,  the  sweet  peace  remained  in  the  assurance 
that  the  result  was  surely  coming.  And  so  it 
was  coming  all  those  days  down  in  the  thick  air 
of  Washington's  lower  house,  and  so  it  did 
come. 

What  was  the  consequence  to  her  ?  She  was  a 
congressman's  wife.  She  would  likely  have 
been,  so  far  as  such  matters  may  be  judged,  the 
wife  of  the  governor  of  her  state,  the  first  lady 
socially  of  the  state.  She  is  a  Methodist  minis- 
ter's wife  changing  her  home  every  few  years. 
A  very  different  position  in  many  ways.  No 
woman  will  be  indifferent  to  the  social  difference 
involved.  Yet  rarely  have  I  met  a  woman  with 
more  of  that  fine  beauty  which  the  peace  of  God 
brings,  in  her  glad  face,  and  in  her  winsome 
smile. 

Do  you  see  the  simple  philosophy  of  that  ex- 
perience. Her  surrender  gave  God  a  clear  chan- 
nel into  that  man's  will.  When  the  roadway 
was  cleared,  her  prayer  was  a  spirit-force  travers- 
ing instantly  the  hundreds  of  intervening  miles, 
and  affecting  the  spirit-atmosphere  of  his  pres- 
ence. 

Shall  we  not  put  our  wills  fully  in  touch  with 
God,  and  sheer  out  of  sympathy  with  the  other 
one,  and  persistently  plead  and  claim  for  each 
loved  one,  "deliver  him  from  the  evil  one,  and 
work  in  him  Thy  will,  to  Thy  glory,  by  Thy 
.power,  in  the  Victor's  name."    And  then  add 


May  We  Pray  With  Assurance  205 

amen — so  it  shall  be.  Not  so  may  it  be — a  wish, 
but  so  it  shall  be — an  expression  of  confidence 
in  Jesus'  power.  And  these  lives  shall  be  won, 
and  these  souls  saved. 


IV.    JESUS'  HABITS  OF  PRAYER 


i'.  A  Pen  Sketch. 

2.  Dissolving  Views. 

3.  Deepening  Shadows. 

4.  Under  the  Olive  Trees. 

5.  A  Composite  Picture. 


Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer 


A  Pen  Sketch. 

When  God  would  win  back  His  prodigal  world 
He  sent  down  a  Man.  That  Man  while  more 
than  man  insisted  upon  being  truly  a  man.  He 
touched  human  life  at  every  point.  No  man 
seems  to  have  understood  prayer,  and  to  have 
prayed  as  did  He.  How  can  we  better  conclude 
these  quiet  talks  on  prayer  than  by  gathering  about 
His  person  and  studying  His  habits  of  prayer. 

A  habit  is  an  act  repeated  so  often  as  to  be 
done  involuntarily;  that  is,  without  a  new  de- 
cision of  the  mind  each  time  it  is  done. 

Jesus  prayed.  He  loved  to  pray.  Sometimes 
praying  was  His  way  of  resting.  He  prayed  so 
much  and  so  often  that  it  became  a  part  of  His 
life.  It  became  to  Him  like  breathing — involun- 
tary. 

There  is  no  thing  we  need  so  much  as  to  learn 
how  to  pray.  There  are  two  ways  of  receiving 
instruction;  one,  by  being  told;  the  other,  by 
watching  some  one  else.  The  latter  is  the  sim- 
pler and  the  surer  way.  How  better  can  we 
learn  how  to  pray  than  by  watching  how  Jesus 
209 


210  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

prayed,  and  then  trying  to  imitate  Him.  Not, 
just  now,  studying  what  He  said  about  prayer, 
invaluable  as  that  is,  and  so  closely  interwoven 
with  the  other;  nor  yet  how  He  received  the  re- 
quests of  men  when  on  earth,  full  of  inspiring 
suggestion  as  that  is  of  His  present  attitude 
towards  our  prayers;  but  how  He  Himself  prayed 
when  down  here  surrounded  by  our  same  cir- 
cumstances and  temptations. 

There  are  two  sections  of  the  Bible  to  which 
we  at  once  turn  for  light,  the  gospels  and  the 
Psalms.  In  the  gospels  is  given  chiefly  the 
outer  side  of  His  prayer-habits;  and  in  certain  of 
the  Psalms,  glimpses  of  the  inner  side  are  un- 
mistakably revealed. 

Turning  now  to  the  gospels,  we  find  the 
picture  of  the  praying  Jesus  like  an  etching,  a 
sketch  in  black  and  white,  the  fewest  possible 
strokes  of  the  pen,  a  scratch  here,  a  line  there, 
frequently  a  single  word  added  by  one  writer  to 
the  narrative  of  the  others,  which  gradually 
bring  to  view  the  outline  of  a  lone  figure  with 
upturned  face. 

Of  the  fifteen  mentions  of  His  praying  found 
in  the  four  gospels,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
while  Matthew  gives  three,  and  Mark  and  John 
each  four,  it  is  Luke,  Paul's  companion  and 
mirror-like  friend,  who,  in  eleven  such  allusions, 
supplies  most  of  the  picture. 

Does  this  not  contain  a  strong  hint  of  the  ex- 
planation of  that  other  etching  plainly  traceable 


Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer  211 

in  the  epistles  which  reveals  Paul's  own  marvel- 
lous prayer-life  ? 

Matthew,  immersed  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
writes  to  the  Jews  of  their  promised  Davidic 
King;  Mark,  with  rapid  pen,  relates  the  ceaseless 
activity  of  this  wonderful  servant  of  the  Father. 
John,  with  imprisoned  body,  but  rare  liberty  of 
vision,  from  the  glory-side  revealed  on  Patmos, 
depicts  the  Son  of  God  coming  on  an  errand 
from  the  Father  into  the  world,  and  again,  leav- 
ing the  world  and  going  back  home  unto  the 
Father.  But  Luke  emphasizes  the  human  Jesus, 
a  Man — with  reverence  let  me  use  a  word  in  its 
old-fashioned  meaning — 2i  fellow,  that  is,  one  of 
ourselves.  And  the  Holy  Spirit  makes  it  very 
plain  throughout  Luke's  narrative  that  the  man 
Christ  Jesus  prayed;  prayed  much;  needed  to 
pray;  loved  to  pray. 

Oh!  when  shall  we  men  down  here,  sent  into 
the  world  as  He  was  sent  into  the  world,  with 
the  same  mission,  the  same  field,  the  same  Satan 
to  combat,  the  same  Holy  Spirit  to  empower, 
find  out  that  power  lies  in  keeping  closest  con- 
nection with  the  Sender,  and  completest  insula- 
tion from  the  power-absorbing  world! 

Dissolving  yiews. 

Let  me  rapidily  sketch  those  fifteen  mentions  of 
the  gospel  writers,  attempting  to  keep  their 
chronological  order. 

The  first  mention  is  by  Luke,  in  chapter  three. 


212  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

The  first  three  gospels  all  tell  of  Jesus'  double 
baptism,  but  it  is  Luke  who  adds,  *'  and  praying." 
It  was  while  waiting  in  prayer  that  He  received 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  dared  not  begin 
His  public  mission  without  that  anointing.  It 
had  been  promised  in  the  prophetic  writings. 
And  now,  standing  in  the  Jordan,  He  waits  and 
prays  until  the  blue  above  is  burst  through  by  the 
gleams  of  glory-light  from  the  upper-side  and 
the  dove-like  Spirit  wings  down  and  abides  upon 
Him.  Prayer  brings  power.  Prayer  is  power. 
The  time  of  prayer  is  the  time  of  power.  The 
place  of  prayer  is  the  place  of  power.  Prayer  is 
tightening  the  connections  with  the  divine 
dynamo  so  that  the  power  may  flow  freely  with- 
out loss  or  interruption. 

The  second  mention  is  made  by  Mark  in  chap- 
ter one.  Luke,  in  chapter  four,  hints  at  it, 
"when  it  was  day  He  came  out  and  went  into  a 
desert  place."  But  Mark  tells  us  plainly  "in  the 
morning  a  great  while  before  the  day  (or  a  little 
more  literally,  *  very  early  while  it  was  yet  very 
dark')  He  arose  and  went  out  into  the  desert  or 
solitary  place  and  there  prayed."  The  day  before, 
a  Sabbath  day  spent  in  His  adopted  home-town 
Capernaum,  had  been  a  very  busy  day  for  Him, 
teaching  in  the  synagogue  service,  the  interrup- 
tion by  a  demon-possessed  man,  the  casting  out 
amid  a  painful  scene;  afterwards  the  healing  of 
Peter's  mother-in-law,  and  then  at  sun-setting  the 
great  crowd  of  diseased  and  demonized  throng- 


Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer  213 

ing  the  narrow  street  until  far  into  the  night, 
while  He,  passing  amongst  them,  by  personal 
touch,  healed  and  restored  every  one.  It  was  a 
long  and  exhausting  day's  work.  One  of  us 
spending  as  busy  a  Sabbath  would  probably  feel 
that  the  next  morning  needed  an  extra  hour's 
sleep  if  possible.  One  must  rest  surely.  But 
this  man  Jesus  seemed  to  have  another  way  of 
resting  in  addition  to  sleep.  Probably  He  occu- 
pied the  guest-chamber  in  Peter's  home.  The 
house  was  likely  astir  at  the  usual  hour,  and  by 
and  by  breakfast  was  ready,  but  the  Master  had 
not  appeared  yet,  so  they  waited  a  bit.  After  a 
while  the  maid  slips  to  His  room  door  and  taps 
lightly,  bat  there's  no  answer;  again  a  little 
bolder  knock,  then  pushing  the  door  ajar  she  finds 
the  room  unoccupied.  Where's  the  Master? 
"Ah!"  Peter  says;  "I  think  I  know.  I  have 
noticed  before  this  that  He  has  a  way  of  slipping 
off  early  in  the  morning  to  some  quiet  place  where 
He  can  be  alone."  And  a  little  knot  of  disciples 
with  Peter  in  the  lead  starts  out  on  a  search  for 
Him,  for  already  a  crowd  is  gathering  at  the  door 
and  filling  the  street  again,  hungry  for  more. 
And  they  "tracked  Him  down"  here  and  there 
on  the  hillsides,  among  clumps  of  trees,  until  sud- 
denly they  come  upon  Him  quietly  praying  with 
a  wondrous  calm  in  His  great  eyes.  Listen  to 
Peter  as  he  eagerly  blurts  out,  "  Master,  there's  a 
big  crowd  down  there,  all  asking  for  you."  But 
the  Master's  quiet  decisive  tones  reply,  "  Let  us  go 


214  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

into  the  next  towns  that  I  may  preach  there  also; 
for  to  this  end  came  1  forth."  Much  easier  to  go 
back  and  deal  again  with  the  old  crowd  of  yes- 
terday; harder  to  meet  the  new  crowds  with 
their  new  skepticism,  but  there's  no  doubt  about 
what  should  be  done.  Prayer  wonderfully  clears 
the  vision;  steadies  the  nerves;  defines  duty;  stif- 
fens the  purpose;  sweetens  and  strengthens  the 
spirit.  The  busier  the  day  for  Him  the  more 
surely  must  the  morning  appointment  be  kept,^ 
and  even  an  earlier  start  made,  apparently.  The 
more  virtue  went  forth  from  Him,  the  more  cer- 
tainly must  He  spend  time,  and  even  more  time, 
alone  with  Him  who  is  the  source  of  power. 

The  third  mention  is  in  Luke,  chapter  five. 
Not  a  great  while  after  the  scene  just  described, 
possibly  while  on  the  trip  suggested  by  His  an- 
swer to  Peter,  in  some  one  of  the  numerous  Gal- 
ilean villages,  moved  with  the  compassion  that 
ever  burned  His  heart,  He  had  healed  a  badly  dis- 
eased leper,  who,  disregarding  His  express  com- 
mand, so  widely  published  the  fact  of  His  re- 
markable healing  that  great  crowds  blocked 
Jesus'  way  in  the  village  and  compelled  Him  to 
go  out  to  the  country  district,  where  the  crowds 
which  the  village  could  not  hold  now  throng 
about  Him.  Now  note  what  the  Master  does. 
The  authorized  version  says,  "  He  withdrew  into 
the  wilderness  and  prayed."  A  more  nearly  lit- 
eral reading  would  be,  "He  was  retiring  in  the 

1  Isaiah  50 : 4,  Revised. 


Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer  215' 

deserts  and  praying";  suggesting  not  a  single 
act,  but  rather  a  habit  of  action  running  through 
several  days  or  even  weeks.  That  is,  being  com- 
pelled by  the  greatness  of  the  crowds  to  go  into 
the  deserts  or  country  districts,  and  being  con- 
stantly thronged  there  by  the  people,  He  had 
tess  opportunity  to  get  alone,  and  yet  more  need, 
and  so  while  He  patiently  continues  His  work 
among  them  He  studiously  seeks  opportunity  to 
retire  at  intervals  from  the  crowds  to  pray. 

How  much  His  life  was  like  ours.  Pressed  by 
duties,  by  opportunities  for  service,  by  the  great 
need  around  us,  we  are  strongly  tempted  to  give 
less  time  to  the  inner  chamber,  with  door  shut. 
"Surely  this  work  must  be  done,"  we  think, 
"  though  it  does  crowd  and  flurry  our  prayer 
time  some."  "  No,"  the  Master's  practice  here 
says  with  intense  em.phasis.  Not  work  first, 
and  prayer  to  bless  it.  But  the  first  place  given 
to  prayer  and  then  the  service  growing  out  of 
such  prayer  will  be  charged  with  unmeasured 
power.  The  greater  the  outer  pressure  on  His 
closet-life,  the  more  jealously  He  guarded  against 
either  a  shortening  of  its  time  or  a  flurrying  of  its 
spirit.  The  tighter  the  tension,  the  more  time 
must  there  be  for  unhurried  prayer. 

The  fourth  mention  is  found  in  Luke,  chapter 
six.  **  It  came  to  pass  in  these  days  that  He 
went  out  into  the  mountains  to  pray,  and  He  con- 
tinued all  night  in  prayer  to  God."  The  time  is 
probably  about  the  middle  of  the  second  year  of 


2i6  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

His  public  ministry.  He  had  been  having  very 
exasperating  experiences  with  the  national  lead- 
ers from  Judea  who  dogged  His  steps,  criticising 
and  nagging  at  every  turn,  sowing  seeds  of  skep- 
ticism among  His  simple-minded,  intense-spirited 
Galileans.  It  was  also  the  day  before  He  selected 
the  twelve  men  who  were  to  be  the  leaders  after 
His  departure,  and  preached  the  mountain  ser- 
mon. Luke  does  not  say  that  He  planned  to 
spend  the  entire  night  in  prayer.  Wearied  in 
spirit  by  the  ceaseless  petty  picking  and  Satanic 
hatred  of  His  enemies,  thinking  of  the  serious 
work  of  the  morrow,  there  was  just  one  thing 
for  Him  to  do.  He  knew  where  to  find  rest,  and 
sweet  fellowship,  and  a  calming  presence,  and 
wise  counsel.  Turning  His  face  northward  He 
sought  the  solitude  of  the  mountain  not  far  off 
for  quiet  meditation  and  prayer.  And  as  He 
prayed  and  listened  and  talked  without  words, 
daylight  gradually  grew  into  twilight,  and  that 
yielded  imperceptibly  to  the  brilliant  Oriental 
stars  spraying  down  their  lustrous  fire-light. 
And  still  He  prayed,  while  the  darkness  below 
and  the  blue  above  deepened,  and  the  stilling 
calm  of  God  wrapped  all  nature  around,  and 
hushed  His  heart  into  a  deeper  peace.  In  the  fas- 
cination of  the  Father's  loving  presence  He  was 
utterly  lost  to  the  flight  of  time,  but  prayed  on 
and  on  until,  by  and  by,  the  earth  had  once  more 
completed  its  daily  turn,  the  gray  streaks  of 
dawnlight  crept  up  the  east,  and  the  face  of  Pal- 


Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer  217 

estine,  fragrant  with  the  deep  dews  of  an  east- 
ern night,  was  kissed  by  a  sun  of  a  new  day. 
And  then,  **  when  it  was  day  " — how  quietly  the 
narrative  goes  on — "He  called  the  disciples  and 
chose  from  them  twelve, — and  a  great  multi- 
tude of  disciples  and  of  the  people  came,— and 
He  healed  all — and  He  opened  His  mouth  and 
taught  them — for  power  came  forth  from  Him." 
Is  it  any  wonder,  after  such  a  night!  If  all  our 
exasperations  and  embarrassments  were  fol- 
lowed, and  all  our  decisions  and  utterances  pre- 
ceded, by  unhurried  prayer,  what  power  would 
come  forth  from  us,  too.  Because  as  He  is  even 
so  are  we  in  this  world. 

The  fifth  mention  is  made  by  Matthew,  chap- 
ter fourteen,  and  Mark,  chapter  six,  John  hinting 
at  it  in  chapter  six  of  his  gospel.  It  was  about 
the  time  of  the  third  passover,  the  beginning  of 
His  last  year  of  service.  Both  He  and  the  dis- 
ciples had  been  kept  exceedingly  busy  with  the 
great  throng  coming  and  going  incessantly. 
The  startling  news  had  just  come  of  the  tragic 
death  of  His  forerunner.  There  was  need  of 
bodily  rest,  as  well  as  of  quiet  to  think  over  the 
rapidly  culminating  opposition.  So  taking  boat 
they  headed  towards  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
lake.  But  the  eager  crowds  watched  the  direc- 
tion taken  and  spreading  the  news,  literally 
"ran"  around  the  head  of  the  lake  and  "out- 
went them,"  and  when  He  stepped  from  the 
boat  for  the  much-needed  rest  there  was  an  im- 


2l8  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

mense  company,  numbering  thousands,  waiting 
for  Him.  Did  some  feeling  of  impatience  break 
out  among  the  disciples  that  they  could  not  be 
allowed  a  little  leisure?  Very  hkely,  for  they 
were  so  much  like  us.  But  He  was  ''moved 
with  compassion  "  and,  wearied  though  He  was, 
patiently  spent  the  entire  day  in  teaching,  and 
then,  at  eventime  when  the  disciples  proposed 
sending  them  away  for  food.  He,  with  a  handful 
of  loaves  and  fishes,  satisfied  the  bodily  cravings 
of  as  many  as  five  thousand. 

There  is  nothing  that  has  so  appealed  to  the 
masses  in  all  countries  and  all  centuries  as  ability 
to  furnish  plenty  to  eat.  Literally  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  the  human  race  fall  asleep  every  night 
hungry.  So  here.  At  once  it  is  proposed  by  a 
great  popular  uprising,  under  the  leadership  of 
this  wonderful  man  as  king,  to  throw  off  the  op- 
pressive Roman  yoke.  Certainly  if  only  His  con- 
sent could  be  had  it  would  be  immensely  success- 
ful, they  thought.  Does  this  not  rank  with  Satan's 
suggestion  in  the  wilderness,  and  with  the  later 
possibility  coming  through  the  visit  of  the  Greek 
deputation,  of  establishing  the  kingdom  without 
suffering  ?  It  was  a  temptation,  even  though  it 
found  no  response  within  Him.  With  the  over- 
awing power  of  His  presence  so  markedly  felt  at 
times  He  quieted  the  movement,  "constrained  "  ' 
the  disciples  to  go  by  boat  before  Him  to  the 

^  Does  not  this  very  strong  language  suggest  that  possibly  the 
disciples  had  been  conferred  with  by  the  revolutionary  leaders  ? 


Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer  219 

other  side  while  He  dismissed  the  throng.  "  And 
after  He  had  taken  leave  of  them  " — what  gentle 
courtesy  and  tenderness  mingled  with  His  irrev- 
ocable decision — *'  He  went  up  in  the  mountain 
to  pray,"  and  ''continued  in  prayer"  until  the 
morning  watch.  A  second  night  spent  in  prayer! 
Bodily  weary,  His  spirit  startled  by  an  event 
which  vividly  foreshadowed  His  own  approach- 
ing violent  death,  and  now  this  vigorous  renewal 
of  His  old  temptation,  again  He  had  recourse  to 
His  one  unfailing  habit  of  getting  off  alone  to 
pray.  Time  alone  to  pray;  more  time  to  pray, 
was  His  one  invariable  offset  to  all  difficulties, 
all  temptations,  and  all  needs.  How  much  more 
there  must  have  been  in  prayer  as  He  understood 
and  practiced  it  than  many  of  His  disciples  to-day 
know. 

'Deepening  Shadows. 

We  shall  perhaps  understand  better  some  of 
the  remaining  prayer  incidents  if  we  remember 
that  Jesus  is  now  in  the  last  year  of  His  ministry, 
the  acute  state  of  His  experiences  with  the 
national  leaders  preceding  the  final  break.  The 
awful  shadow  of  the  cross  grows  deeper  and 
darker  across  His  path.  The  hatred  of  the  op- 
position leader  gets  constantly  intenser.  The 
conditions  of  discipleship  are  more  sharply 
put.  The  inability  of  the  crowds,  of  the  dis- 
ciples, and  others  to  understand  Him  grows 
more  marked.     Many  followers  go  back.     He 


220  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

seeks  to  get  more  time  for  intercourse  with  the 
twelve.  He  makes  frequent  trips  to  distant 
points  on  the  border  of  the  outside,  non-Jewish 
world.  The  coming  scenes  and  experiences — 
the  scene  on  the  little  hillock  outside  the  Jerusa- 
lem wall — seem  never  absent  from  His  thoughts. 
The  sixth  mention  is  made  by  Luke,  chapter 
nine.  They  are  up  north  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Roman  city  of  Caesarea  Philippi.  "And  it 
came  to  pass  as  He  was  praying  alone,  the  dis- 
ciples were  with  Him."  Alone,  so  far  as  the 
multitudes  are  concerned,  but  seeming  to  be 
drawing  these  twelve  nearer  to  His  inner  life. 
Some  of  these  later  incidents  seem  to  suggest 
that  he  was  trying  to  woo  them  into  something 
of  the  same  love  for  the  fascination  of  secret 
prayer  that  He  had.  How  much  they  would 
need  to  pray  in  the  coming  years  when  He  was 
gone.  Possibly,  too.  He  yearned  for  a  closer 
fellowship  with  them.  He  loved  human  fellow- 
ship, as  Peter  and  James  and  John,  and  Mary  and 
Martha  and  many  other  gentle  women  well 
knew.  And  there  is  no  fellowship  among  men 
to  be  compared  with  fellowship  in  prayer, 

"  There  is  a  place  where  spirits  blend, 
V^hQxt  friend  holds  fellowship  with  friend^ 
A  place  than  all  beside  more  sweet. 
It  is  the  blood-bought  mercy-seat." 

The  seventh  mention  is  in  this  same  ninth  chap- 
ter of  Luke,  and  records  a  third  night  of  prayer. 


Jesus*  Habits  of  Prayer  221 

Matthew  and  Mark  also  tell  of  the  transfiguration 
scene,  but  it  is  Luke  who  explains  that  He  went 
up  into  the  mountain  to  pray,  and  that  it  was  as 
He  was  praying  that  the  fashion  of  His  counte- 
nance was  altered.  Without  stopping  to  study 
the  purpose  of  this  marvellous  manifestation  of 
His  divine  glory  to  the  chosen  three  at  a  time 
when  desertion  and  hatred  were  so  marked,  it  is 
enough  now  to  note  the  significant  fact  that  it 
was  while  He  was  praying  that  the  wondrous 
change  came.  Transfigured  while  praying! 
And  by  His  side  stood  one  who  centuries  before 
on  the  earth  had  spent  so  much  time  alone  with 
God  that  the  glory-light  of  that  presence  trans- 
figured his  face,  though  he  was  unconscious  of 
it.  A  shining  face  caused  by  contact  with  God! 
Shall  not  we,  to  whom  the  Master  has  said, 
**  follow  Me,"  get  alone  with  Him  and  His  blessed 
Word,  so  habitually,  with  open  or  uncovered 
face,  that  is,  with  eyesight  unhindered  by  preju- 
dice or  self-seeking,  that  mirroring  the  glory  of 
His  face  we  shall  more  and  more  come  to  bear 
His  very  likeness  upon  our  faces  ?* 

«  And  the  face  shines  bright 
With  a  glow  of  light 
From  His  presence  sent 
Whom  she  loves  to  meet. 

"  Yes,  the  face  beams  bright 
With  an  inner  light  i 

>  2  Cor.  3 :  18.  I 


222  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

As  by  day  so  by  night, 
In  shade  as  in  shine, 
With  a  beauty  fine, 
That  she  wist  not  of. 
From  some  source  within. 
And  above. 

"  Still  the  face  shines  bright 
With  the  glory-light 
From  the  mountain  height, 
Where  the  resplendent  sight 
Of  His  face 
Fills  her  view 
And  illumines  in  turn 
First  the  few, 
Then  the  wide  race." 

The  eighth  mention  is  in  the  tenth  chapter  of 
Luke.  He  had  organized  a  band  of  men,  send- 
ing them  out  in  two's  into  the  places  he  expected 
to  visit.  They  had  returned  with  a  joyful  report 
of  the  power  attending  their  work;  and  standing 
in  their  midst,  His  own  heart  overflowing  with 
joy,  He  looked  up  and,  as  though  the  Father's 
face  was  visible,  spake  out  to  Him  the  gladness 
of  His  heart.  He  seemed  to  be  always  conscious 
of  His  Father's  presence,  and  the  most  natural 
thing  was  to  speak  to  Him.  They  were  always 
within  speaking  distance  of  each  other,  and  al- 
ways on  speaking  terms. 

The  ninth  mention  is  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
Luke,  very  similar  to  the  sixth  mention,  **  It 
came  to  pass  as  He  was  praying  in  a  certain  place 
that  when  He  ceased  one  of  His  disciples  said 


Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer  223 

unto  Him,  *  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray.' "  Without 
doubt  these  disciples  were  praying  men.  He 
had  already  talked  to  them  a  great  deal  about 
prayer.  But  as  they  noticed  how  large  a  place 
prayer  had  in  His  life,  and  some  of  the  marvellous 
results,  the  fact  came  home  to  them  with  great 
force  that  there  must  be  some  fascination,  some 
power,  some  secret  in  prayer,  of  which  theywere 
ignorant.  This  Man  was  a  master  in  the  fine  art 
of  prayer.  They  really  did  not  know  how  to 
pray,  they  thought.  How  their  request  must 
have  delighted  Him!  At  last  they  were  being 
aroused  concerning  the  great  secret  of  power. 
May  it  be  that  this  simple  recital  of  His  habits  of 
prayer  may  move  every  one  of  us  to  get  alone 
with  Him  and  make  the  same  earnest  request. 
For  the  first  step  in  learning  to  pray  is  to  pray, — 
"  Lord,  teach  me  to  pray."  And  who  can  teach 
like  Him  ? 

The  tenth  mention  is  found  in  John,  chapter 
eleven,  and  is  the  second  of  the  four  instances  of 
ejaculatory  prayer.  A  large  company  is  gathered 
outside  the  village  of  Bethany,  around  a  tomb  in 
which  four  days  before  the  body  of  a  young  man 
had  been  laid  away.  There  is  Mary,  still  weep- 
ing, and  Martha,  always  keenly  alive  to  the 
proprieties,  trying  to  be  more  composed,  and 
their  personal  friends,  and  the  villagers,  and  the 
company  of  acquaintances  and  others  from  Jeru- 
salem. At  His  word,  after  some  hesitation,  the 
stone  at  the  mouth  of  the  tomb  is  rolled  aside. 


224  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

And  Jesus  lifted  up  His  eyes  and  said,  "  Father, 
I  thank  Thee  that  Thou  heardest  Me;  and  I  knew 
that  Thou  hearest  Me  always;  but  because  of  the 
multitude  that  standeth  around  I  said  it  that  they 
may  believe  that  Thou  didst  send  Me!  "  Clearly 
before  coming  to  the  tomb  He  had  been  praying 
in  secret  about  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  and  what 
followed  was  in  answer  to  His  prayer.  How 
plain  it  becomes  that  all  the  marvellous  power 
displayed  in  His  brief  earthly  career  came  through 
prayer.  What  inseparable  intimacy  between 
His  life  of  activity  at  which  the  multitude  then 
and  ever  since  has  marvelled,  and  His  hidden 
closet-life  of  which  only  these  passing  glimpses 
are  obtained.  Surely  the  greatest  power  en- 
trusted to  man  is  prayer-power.  But  how  many 
of  us  are  untrue  to  the  trust,  while  this  strangely 
omnipotent  power  put  into  our  hands  lies  so 
largely  unused. 

Note  also  the  certainty  of  His  faith  in  the 
Hearer  of  prayer:  "I  thank  Thee  that  Thou 
heardest  Me."  There  was  nothing  that  could  be 
seen  to  warrant  such  faith.  There  lay  the  dead 
body.  But  He  trusted  as  seeing  Him  who  is  in- 
visible. Faith  is  blind,  except  upward.  It  is 
blind  to  impossibilities  and  deaf  to  doubt.  It 
listens  only  to  God  and  sees  only  His  power  and 
acts  accordingly.  Faith  is  not  believing  that  He 
can  but  that  He  will.  But  such  faith  comes  only 
of  close  continuous  contact  with  God.  Its  birth- 
place is  in  the  secret  closet;  and  time  and  the 


Jesus*  Habits  of  Prayer  225 

open  Word,  and  an  awakened  ear  and  a  reverent 
quiet  heart  are  necessary  to  its  growth. 

The  eleventh  mention  is  found  in  the  twelfth 
chapter  of  John.  Two  or  three  days  before  the 
fated  Friday  some  Greek  visitors  to  the  Jewish 
feast  of  Passover  sought  an  interview  with  Him. 
The  request  seemed  to  bring  to  His  mind  a  vision 
of  the  great  outside  world,  after  which  His  heart 
yearned,  coming  to  Him  so  hungry  for  what  only 
He  could  give.  And  instantly  athwart  that  vision 
like  an  ink-black  shadow  came  the  other  vision, 
never  absent  now  from  His  waking  thoughts,  of 
the  cross  so  awfully  near.  Shrinking  in  horror 
from  the  second  vision,  yet  knowing  that  only 
through  its  realization  could  be  realized  the  first, 
— seemingly  forgetful  for  the  moment  of  the  by- 
standers, as  though  soliloquizing.  He  speaks — 
"  now  is  My  soul  troubled;  and  what  shall  I  say  ? 
Shall  I  say.  Father  save  Me  from  this  hour  ?  But 
for  this  cause  came  I  unto  this  hour:  this  is  what 
I  will  say  (and  the  intense  conflict  of  soul  merges 
into  the  complete  victory  of  a  wholly  surrendered 
will)  Father,  glorify  Thy  name.''  Quick  as  the 
prayer  was  uttered,  came  the  audible  voice  out 
of  heaven  answering,  *'  I  have  both  glorified  it 
and  will  glorify  it  again."  How  near  heaven 
must  be!  How  quickly  the  Father  hears!  He 
must  be  bending  over,  intently  listening,  eager  to 
catch  even  faintly  whispered  prayer.  Their  ears, 
full  of  earth-sounds,  unaccustomed  to  listening  to  a 
heavenly  voice,  could  hear  nothing  intelligible. 


226  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

He  had  a  trained  ear.  Isaiah  50:  4  revised  (a 
passage  plainly  prophetic  of  Him),  suggests  how 
it  was  that  He  could  understand  this  voice  so 
easily  and  quickly.  "Hewakeneth  morning  by 
morning,  He  wakeneth  mine  ear  to  hear  as  they 
that  are  taught."  A  taught  ear  is  as  necessary  to 
prayer  as  a  taught  tongue,  and  the  daily  morning 
appointment  with  God  seems  essential  to  both. 

Under  the  Olive  Trees. 

The  twelfth  mention  is  made  by  Luke,  chapter 
twenty-two.  It  is  Thursday  night  of  Passion 
week,  in  the  large  upper  room  in  Jerusalem 
where  He  is  celebrating  the  old  Passover  feast, 
and  initiating  the  new  memorial  feast.  But  even 
that  hallowed  hour  is  disturbed  by  the  disciples' 
self-seeking  disputes.  With  the  great  patience 
of  great  love  He  gives  them  the  wonderful  ex- 
ample of  humility  of  which  John  thirteen  tells, 
speaking  gently  of  what  it  meant,  and  then  turn- 
ing to  Peter,  and  using  his  old  name,  He  says, 
"  Simon,  Simon,  behold  Satan  asked  to  have  you 
that  he  might  sift  you  as  wheat,  but  I  made  sup- 
plication for  thee  that  thy  faith  fail  not."  He 
had  been  praying  for  Peter  by  name  I  That  was 
one  of  His  prayer-habits,  praying  for  others. 
And  He  has  not  broken  off  that  blessed  habit 
yet.  He  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  them 
that  draw  near  to  God  through  Him  seeing  He 
ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them.  His 
occupation  now  seated  at  His  Father's  right  hand 


Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer  227 

in  glory  is  praying  for  each  of  us  who'  trust  Him. 
By  name  ?    Why  not  ? 

The  thirteenth  mention  is  the  familiar  one  in 
John,  chapter  seventeen,  and  cannot  be  studied 
within  these  narrow  limits,  but  merely  fitted  into 
its  order.  The  twelfth  chapter  contains  His  last 
words  to  the  world.  In  the  thirteenth  and 
through  to  the  close  of  this  seventeenth  He  is  alone 
with  -His  disciples.  If  this  prayer  is  read  care- 
fully in  the  revised  version  it  will  be  seen  that  its 
standpoint  is  that  of  one  who  thinks  of  His  work 
down  in  the  world  as  already  done  (though  the 
chief  scene  is  yet  to  come)  and  the  world  left  be- 
hind, and  now  He  is  about  re-entering  His  Father's 
presence  to  be  re-instated  in  glory  there.  It  is 
really,  therefore,  a  sort  of  specimen  of  the  pray- 
ing for  us  in  which  He  is  now  engaged,  and  so  is 
commonly  called  the  intercessory  or  high-priestly 
prayer.  For  thirty  years  He  lived  a  perfect  life. 
For  three  and  a  half  years  He  was  a  prophet 
speaking  to  men  for  God.  For  nineteen  centuries 
He  has  been  high  priest  speaking  to  God  for  men. 
When  He  returns  it  will  be  as  King  to  reign  over 
men  for  God. 

The  fourteenth  mention  brings  us  within  the 
sadly  sacred  precincts  of  Gethsemane  garden, 
one  of  His  favourite  prayer-spots,  where  He  fre- 
quently went  while  in  Jerusalem.  The  record  is 
found  in  Matthew  twenty-six,  Mark  fourteen, 
and  Luke  twenty-oofe.  Let  us  approach  with 
hearts  hushed  and  heads  bared  and  bowed,  for 


228  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

this  is  indeed  hallowed  ground.  It  is  a  little  later 
on  that  same  Thursday  night,  into  which  so 
much  has  already  been  pressed  and  so  much 
more  is  yet  to  come.  After  the  talk  in  the  upper 
room,  and  the  simple  wondrous  prayer.  He 
leads  the  little  band  out  of  the  city  gate  on  the 
east  across  the  swift,  muddy  Kidron  into  the  in- 
closed grove  of  olive  trees  beyond.  There 
would  be  no  sleep  for  Him  that  night.  Within 
an  hour  or  two  the  Roman  soldiers  and  the  Jew- 
ish mob,  led  by  the  traitor,  will  be  there  search- 
ing for  Him,  and  He  meant  to  spend  the  inter- 
vening time  in  prayer.  With  the  longing  for 
sympathy  so  marked  during  these  latter  months, 
He  takes  Peter  and  James  and  John  and  goes 
farther  into  the  deeply-shadowed  grove.  But 
now  some  invisible  power  tears  him  away  and 
plunges  Him  alone  still  farther  into  the  moonlit 
recesses  of  the  garden;  and  there  a  strange, 
awful  struggle  of  soul  ensues.  It  seems  like  a 
renewal  of  the  same  conflict  He  experienced  in 
John  twelve  when  the  Greeks  came,  but  immeas- 
urably intenser.  He  who  in  Himself  knew  no 
sin  was  now  beginning  to  realize  in  His  spirit 
what  within  a  few  hours  He  realized  actually, 
that  He  was  in  very  deed  to  be  made  sin  for  us. 
And  the  awful  realization  comes  in  upon  Him 
with  such  terrific  intensity  that  it  seems  as  though 
His  physical  frame  cannot  endure  the  strain  of 
mental  agony.  The  actual  experience  of  the 
next  day  produced  such  mental  agony  that  His 


Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer  229 

physical  strength  gave  way.  For  He  died  not  of 
His  physical  suffering,  excruciating  as  that  was, 
but  literally  of  a  broken  heart,  its  walls  burst 
asunder  by  the  strain  of  soul.  It  is  not  possible 
for  a  sinning  soul  to  appreciate  with  what  night- 
mare dread  and  horror  the  sinless  soul  of  Jesus 
must  have  approached  the  coming  contact  with 
the  sin  of  a  world.  With  bated  breath  and  rev- 
erent gaze  one  follows  that  lonely  figure  among 
the  trees;  now  kneeling,  now  falling  upon  His 
face,  lying  prostrate,  '*  He  prayed  that  if  it  were 
possible  the  hour  might  pass  away  from  Him." 
One  snatch  of  that  prayer  reaches  our  ears: 
"Abba,  Father,  all  things  are  possible  unto  Thee 
— //  it  be  possible  let  this  cup  pass  away  from 
Me;  nevertheless  not  as  1  will,  but  as  Thou  wilt." 
How  long  He  remained  so  in  prayer  we  do  not 
know,  but  so  great  was  the  tension  of  spirit  that 
a  messenger  from  heaven  appeared  and  strength- 
ened Him.  Even  after  that  "being  in  an  agony 
He  prayed  more  earnestly  (literally,  more 
stretched  out,  more  strainedly)  and  His  sweat  be- 
came as  it  were  great  clots  of  blood  falling  down 
upon  the  ground."  When  at  length  He  arises 
from  that  season  of  conflict  and  prayer,  the  vic- 
tory seems  to  be  won,  and  something  of  the 
old-time  calm  reasserts  itself.  He  goes  to  the 
sleeping  disciples,  and  mindful  of  their  coming 
temptation,  admonishes  them  to  pray;  then  re- 
turns to  the  lonely  solitude  again  for  more  prayer, 
but  the  change  in  the  form  of  prayer  tells  of  the 


230  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

triumph  of  soul,  "  O  My  Father,  if  this  cup  can- 
not pass  away  except  I  drink  it.  Thy  will  be 
done."  The  victory  is  complete.  The  crisis  is 
past.  He  yields  Himself  to  that  dreaded  experi- 
ence through  which  alone  the  Father's  loving 
plan  for  a  dying  world  can  be  accomplished. 
Again  He  returns  to  the  poor,  weak  disciples, 
and  back  again  for  another  bit  of  strengthening 
communion,  and  then  the  flickering  glare  of 
torches  in  the  distance  tells  Him  that  "the  hour 
is  come."  With  steady  step  and  a  marvellous 
peace  lighting  His  face  He  goes  out  to  meet  His 
enemies.  He  overcame  in  this  greatest  crisis  of 
His  life  by  prayer. 

The  fifteenth  mention  is  the  final  one.  Of  the 
seven  sentences  which  He  spake  upon  the  cross, 
three  were  prayers.  Luke  tells  us  that  while  the 
soldiers  were  driving  the  nails  through  His  hands 
and  feet  and  lifting  the  cross  into  place,  He,  think- 
ing even  then  not  of  self,  but  of  others,  said, 
**  Father,  forgive  them,  they  know  not  what 
they  do." 

It  was  as  the  time  of  the  daily  evening  sacrifice 
drew  on,  near  the  close  of  that  strange  darkness 
which  overcast  all  nature,  after  a  silence  of  three 
hours,  that  He  loudly  sobbed  out  the  piercing, 
heart-rending  cry,  **  My  God,  My  God,  why 
didst  Thou  forsake  Me?"  A  little  later  the  tri- 
umphant shout  proclaimed  His  work  done,  and 
then  the  very  last  word  was  a  prayer  quietly 
breathed  out,  as  He  yielded  up  His  life,  "  Father, 


Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer  231 

into  Thy  hands  I  commend  My  spirit."    And  so 
His  expiring  breath  was  vocalized  into  prayer. 

A  Composite  Picture. 

It  may  be  helpful  to  make  the  following  sum- 
mary of  these  allusions. 

1.  His  times  of  prayer:  His  regular  habit 
seems  plainly  to  have  been  to  devote  the  early 
morning  hour  to  communion  with  His  Father, 
and  to  depend  upon  that  for  constant  guidance 
and  instruction.  This  is  suggested  especially  by 
Mark  1:35;  and  also  by  Isaiah  50:4-6  coupled 
with  John  7: 16  1.  c,  8:28,  and  12:49. 

In  addition  to  this  regular  appointment,  He 
sought  other  opportunities  for  secret  prayer  as 
special  need  arose;  late  at  night  after  others  had 
retired;  three  times  He  remained  in  prayer  all  the 
night;  and  at  irregular  intervals  between  times. 
Note  that  it  was  usually  a  quiet  time  when  the 
noises  of  earth  were  hushed.  He  spent  special 
time  in  prayer  hefore  important  events  and  also 
afterwards,  (See  mentions  i,  2,  3,  4,  5,  10  and 
14.) 

2.  His  places  of  prayer:  He  who  said, 
*'  Enter  into  thine  inner  chamber  and  when  thou 
hast  shut  the  door,  pray  to  thy  Father  in  secret," 
Himself  had  no  fixed  inner  chamber,  during  His 
public  career,  to  make  easier  the  habitual  retire- 
ment for  prayer.  Homeless  for  the  three  and  a 
half  years  of  ceaseless  travelling,  His  place  of 
prayer  was  a  desert  place,  " the  deserts,"  "the 


J 


232  Quiet  Talks  on  Prayer 

mountains,"  **  a  solitary  place."  He  loved  nature. 
The  hilltop  back  of  Nazareth  village,  the  slopes 
of  Olivet,  the  hillsides  overlooking  the  Galilean 
lake,  were  His  favourite  places.  Note  that  it  was 
always  a  quiet  place,  shut  away  from  the  dis- 
cordant sounds  of  earth. 

3.  His  constant  spirit  of  prayer:  He  was 
never  out  of  the  spirit  of  prayer.  He  could  be 
alone  in  a  dense  crowd.  It  has  been  said  that 
there  are  sorts  of  solitude,  namely,  of  time,  as 
early  morning,  or  late  at  night;  solitude  of  place, 
as  a  hilltop,  or  forest,  or  a  secluded  room;  and 
solitude  of  spirit,  as  when  one  surrounded  by 
a  crowd  may  watch  them  unmoved,  or  to  be  lost 
to  all  around  in  his  own  inner  thought.  Jesus 
used  all  three  sorts  of  solitude  for  talking  with 
His  Father.     (See  mentions  8,  10,  11  and  15.) 

4.  He  prayed  in  the  great  crises  of  His  life : 
Five  such  are  mentioned:  Before  the  awful  battle 
royal  with  Satan  in  the  Quarantanian  wilderness 
at  the  outset;  before  choosing  the  twelve  leaders 
of  the  new  movement;  at  the  time  of  the  Gali- 
lean uprising;  before  the  final  departure  from 
Galilee  for  Judea  and  Jerusalem;  and  in  Geth- 
semane,  the  greatest  crisis  of  all.  (See  men- 
tions I,  4,  5,  7  and  14.) 

5.  He  prayed  for  others  by  name,  and  still 
does.     (See  mention  13.) 

6.  He  prayed  with  others :  A  habit  that  might 
well  be  more  widely  copied.  A  few  minutes 
spent  in  quiet  prayer  by  friends  or  fellow-work- 


Jesus'  Habits  of  Prayer  233 

ers  before  parting  wonderfully  sweetens  the 
spirit,  and  cements  friendships,  and  makes  diffi- 
culties less  difficult,  and  hard  problems  easier  of 
solution.     (See  mentions  7,  9  and  13.) 

7.  The  greatest  blessings  of  His  life  came 
during  prayer :  Six  incidents  are  noted :  while 
praying,  the  Holy  Spirit  came  upon  Him;  He 
was  transfigured;  three  times  a  heavenly  voice 
of  approval  came;  and  in  His  hour  of  sorest 
distress  in  the  garden  a  heavenly  messenger  came 
to  strengthen  Him.  (See  mentions  i,  7,  11  and 
14.) 

How  much  prayer  meant  to  Jesus!  It  was 
not  only  His  regular  habit,  but  His  resort  in 
every  emergency,  however  slight  or  serious. 
When  perplexed  He  prayed.  When  hard  pressed 
by  work  He  prayed.  When  hungry  for  fellow- 
ship He  found  it  m  prayer.  He  chose  His  asso- 
ciates and  received  His  messages  upon  His  knees. 
If  tempted,  Ht  prayed.  If  criticised,  Hq  prayed. 
If  fatigued  in  body  or  wearied  in  spirit.  He  had 
recourse  to  His  one  unfailing  habit  of  prayer. 
Prayer  brought  Him  unmeasured  power  at  the 
beginning,  and  kept  the  flow  unbroken  and  un- 
diminished. There  was  no  emergency,  no  diffi- 
culty, no  necessity,  no  temptation  that  would  not 
yield  to  prayer,  as  He  practiced  it.  Shall  not  we, 
who  have  been  tracing  these  steps  in  His  prayer- 
life,  go  back  over  them  again  and  again  until  we 
breathe  in  His  very  spirit  of  prayer  ?  And  shall 
we  not,  too,  ask  Him  daily  to  teach  us  how  to 


^34  Qui^t  Talks  on  Prayer 

pray,  and  then  plan  to  get  alone  with  Him  regu- 
larly that  He  may  have  opportunity  to  teach  us, 
and  we  the  opportunity  to  practice  His  teach- 
ing? 


Date  Due 


Princeton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01021   6150 


